Wanderer

Antti Laitinen is known for artworks that are created in and with nature and involve a laborious physical process, clear thinking, and a beguilingly simple visual style. In addition to observing his own living environment, Laitinen also travels to other countries to work with nature. The photographs and the video featured in this exhibition were created over a period of several years and in various environments: forests, around the edges of fields, on ice, and at a French vineyard.
 

Laitinen watches, ruminates and observes. Over the past few years, his attention was drawn to a willow tree growing near his home. Every year, its foliage would turn autumn colour only after all the other trees in the forest had shed their leaves. This event Laitinen turned into a pair of works, Autumn Act I and II. The starting point of his work Charcoal and Ice was the grid of squared paper, which Laitinen then sawed into the ice using an angle grinder. The photographic piece Broken Landscape (Lafite) draws the viewer into the lush vineyard landscape. The water lily leaves floating on the surface of the water invite us to dream and pause.

The title of the video Wanderer comes from the Ancient Greek word πλανήτης (planētēs), which has come to denote the planets of the solar system, wanderers in the sky. The sphere made of tree branches slowly rotates on its axis. It is like a lone wanderer, endlessly revolving around its pole – a planet and a rover. For Laitinen, the sphere represents a condensation of the forest. The audio track created for the work by sound designer Salla Hämäläinen establishes a lulling atmosphere. The forest takes the viewer in its embrace.

Galerie Anhava

6 June - 30 June 2024
Tue-Fri at 11.00-17.00, Sat-Sun at 12-16

Free admission