The main piece of the exhibition is the sculptural installation, Nostalgia, which is illuminated with video projections. The simultaneity of two video images brings a constant change to the work that flows like a stream – or time. While this piece is based on my own life, it is also a tribute to the film director Andrei Tarkovsky.
The latest work in the exhibition, Encounter, originates from Edith Södergrans´s poem Ett Möte. The translucent nature of the glass contrasts with almost opaque oil paint surface. The work addresses encounters with the unknown and the choices that relate to these moments.

I am seeking peace in symmetry and references to old cultures in the works at the gallery’s studio space. Composer Jouni Hirvelä’s audio work utilizes sounds, such as rustling of wings and Tibetan hand cymbals, and reinforces the atmosphere of the space.

The exhibition is supported by The Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.”

Irma Laukkanen (b. 1958, Kotka) graduated from the Finnish Art Acadamy (the Academy of Fine Arts) in 1982 as a painter and sculptor. In her works, Laukkanen uses float glass as well as other reflective and translucent materials such as steel net, thin metal wire or painted silk. Lately, she has attached also abandoned objects or video projections to her glass sculptures. Since 1981, Laukkanen has participated in exhibitions in Finland and abroad, e.g. in Paris, Bonn, Moscow, Malmö, and St. Petersburg, and she has had numerous solo exhibitions in Finland. Laukkanen has won prizes in various art competitions and has executed several public artworks to different spatial and lighting conditions. Her public works can be found for example in the National Gallery´s Ateneum Hall, in the Central Library of Vantaa, and in New Children´s Hospital in Helsinki.

Laukkanen’s works are e.g. represented in the collections of Kiasma (the Museum of Contemporary Art) and she has been nominated for the Ars Fennica Prize in 1997 and 2003. Her spouse is sculptor Markku Hirvelä and they have four sons. Irma Laukkanen lives and works in Kotka.

The artist is present at the gallery on 1 October 2021 from 2–5 pm and on 24 October 2021, from 2–4 pm.