Satu Laurel:
Faraway Land

The Faraway Land exhibition showcases Satu Laurel’s latest works, exploring the interaction between the visible and invisible, presence and absence, ideals and materiality. These paintings continue the traditions of romantic landscape painting and still life, reinterpreted through contemporary techniques. Fantastical landscapes are veiled in mist or hidden behind waterfalls. Abstract still-life compositions integrated into the landscapes establish a dialogue between tradition and modern painting.

Painting serves as a medium to question the relationship between ideals and realism. What do ideals mean to us today, in an era of "value-based realism"? Are ideals – such as the vision of pure nature – merely utopian notions that need not be taken seriously, or do values manifest in some tangible way? The painting process itself illustrates how ideas transform into practice; the materiality of paint is emphasized in brushstrokes, and from this material emerges an image of an immaterial ideology or dream.

The tangible materiality of paint and the artist’s strong presence are evident in each brushstroke. Fantasy and playfulness, bursts of color, and hidden gardens also find their place in these works. The themes and compositions invite viewers to reconsider dreams, material fantasies, their cost, and the collision of ideologies with reality.

Satu Laurel (b. 1983) is known for her vibrant, colorful works that transport viewers to exotic environments and the intersection of dreams and reality. Birds and fish swim through the same landscapes, and the laws of gravity bend within the paintings. Laurel studied fine arts and art education in Jyväskylä and London (MA, BA), and her works have been acquired for both public and private collections. Since 2004, she has exhibited her work in Finland and internationally. In autumn 2024, her work gained international recognition when Saatchi Art named her among the rising stars of the art world.

"In my practice, I combine expressive, dynamic brushwork with meticulously painted details. A painting holds the full spectrum of human experience—sometimes it’s the free flow of thrown paint, sometimes the delicacy of a fine contour. Mistakes are not erased; they guide the process forward."