Us And Them – from near and far 4.10.2024—19.1.2025

Press release 19.9.2024

Us And Them – from near and far
4.10.2024—19.1.2025
Ars Nova, 2nd floor

Let’s talk about the shared project of art! All artists have their own unique traits and aspirations. That is how it should be. We all share the world, as we live under the same sky. Every person sees it their own way, whether in the present or in the past, and we are curious how others perceive it.

Art is the home of artists. They work together every day. In addition, they have their own kindred spirits. Artists have drawn from the same source of creativity, despite living in different times and different places.

According to artist and art theoretician Ad Reinhardt (1913–1967), the core of art is the artistic process, nothing else. Artists breed artists, art forms from art forms, paintings from paintings. Art for art’s sake – that is, free dialogue between artworks – is not a trivial matter. Free art is about inclusion, responsibility, openness and dedication. In today’s society, artists fervently defend freedom and the right of each individual to exist. Artists remind us, that some things have intrinsic value.

Who are “we” and who are “the others”? The museum’s art collection is like an established monolith that can be reshaped through different installations. Similarly, we can look for broader themes of art in contemporary art by mirroring today’s art against older works. We might notice that art involves both linear and cyclical motion.

Us and them
And after all
We’re only ordinary men…

… Black and blue
And who knows which is which
And who is who

Up and down
And in the end
It’s only round and round, and round

Pink Floyd: Us And Them (1973)

The exhibition includes works by local contemporary artists as well as artworks from the museum’s collections.

The participating artists are: Vesa Aaltonen, Toni Hautamäki, Sini-Meri Hedberg, Heikki Marila, Jouna Karsi, Kaari Könönen, Mikko Paakkonen, Jarkko Rantanen and Wilma Touru.

Works by the following artists have been selected from the collection: Petri Ala-Maunus, Josef Albers, Karel Appel, Max Ernst, Sam Francis, David Hockney, Mikko Paakkola, Sean Scully, Antoni Tàpies, Vladimir Veličković.

The exhibition has been curated by painter Mikko Paakkola and curator Niina Tanskanen.

More information

Niina Tanskanen
curator
niina.tanskanen@avan.fi
040 585 44 99