Gallery Katariina presents the exhibition Eclipses by Lila Vainikka 31 March – 23 April, 2023.
Welcome to the exhibition opening on Thursday, 30 March 5–7 pm!
Lila Vainikka: Eclipse, oil on canvas, 120×90 cm, 2022
Lila Vainikka: Eclipses
Eclipses is Lila Vainikka’s fourth solo exhibition. The exhibition consists of oil paintings on canvas.
In her work, Vainikka deals with the theme of presence and absence. The visual motifs in the works are areas of light and colour that blend smoothly. In the series of eclipses, the light is gradually covered by an eclipse-like shape. Darkness sets in front, covers and hides the light.
In this series of paintings, Vainikka makes a strong gesture to the element that signifies light, hiding its core. In hiding it is sheltered. Hiding can be reaction or anticipation. Hiding is an active gesture to protect what is perceived as meaningful and threatened.
Partially hiding and covering the light is difficult, it feels kind of wrong. However, the nature of hiding includes the possibility of being found. It brings comfort, the light is not lost forever, it waits.
Through hiding and covering, Vainikka deals with absence: when something is covered, it is present in absence.
Lila Vainikka is a 32-year-old visual artist living and working in Kuopio. She has been working on the theme of presence and absence for several years, working on different series that also form a unified whole. Vainikka’s paintings are characterized by the meeting of light and darkness on the canvas.
The exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Paulo Foundation.
GALLERY KATARIINA
Rikhardinkatu 1, 00130 Helsinki
+358 50 550 3811
Tue–Fri 11am–5pm, Sat–Sun 12–4pm