Miira Kangas (b. 1989) from Naantali designs dresses. She focuses mostly on painting the designs with acrylic paints and creating the dresses. What is striking about Miira’s practice is her productivity: in the mornings, she works on several paintings at once, and in the afternoon she drapes fabric over a tailor’s mannequin. To be honest, she works in more or less the same way as professional designers do in fashion houses.

The subject of Miira’s paintings is always an evening dress, even when it is painted in an almost completely abstract style. It is stunning how the composition shows off the feminine figure or an ideal of beauty while also operating with concretist repetition.

Miira’s art teacher, Eija Ruoho, explains: “Miira has been my student since 2009. She is a painter, which means that colours are extremely meaningful to her. Miira’s progress in art has been very determined. In her paintings and drawings, she explores themes and events familiar from the world of fantasy.”

In 2017, Miira became interested in dress design, and she was provided with a mannequin, fabrics and sewing supplies. In 2020, she got a studio of her own at Taidekeskus Into and free use of all the fabrics, rosettes and lace from a bridal shop’s final stock.

Miira’s first exhibition consists of more than 80 abstract and colourful paintings and unique evening gowns. The works were made between 2020 and 2023. In addition to the artworks, the exhibition includes diaries about Miira’s practice as well as a short film about Miira made by Joel Karlsson, a colleague working at Art center Into.

The gallery is a collaboration project between the Taidekeskus Into association and Aboa Vetus Ars Nova Museum. The project will run from April 2023 until January 2024. It will include five solo exhibitions on the museum’s second-floor gallery by artists working at the Into art centre.

The two parties share a desire to do something different. For the museum, it is a great honour to provide the venue for the exhibitions that Into has been working on for years. Cooperation with Into also aims to make outsider art part of the wider field. But the best thing about the collaboration is the exhibitions themselves: these five artists are truly worth the experience!