The artist is present at the gallery on 28 September from 2-4 pm.

Tiina Raitanen’s sculptures are rooted in found objects she encounters during her walks, such as plastic car parts. The artist transforms these finds into sculptural collages, which she then casts in materials like bronze or concrete. Raitanen’s recent works also include more freely shaped forms and materials such as wood and silver. Through her practice, Raitanen explores themes of recognition, remembering, the history of materials, time, and imagined remnants of a future.

The exhibited sculptures revolve around the concept of time and our perceptions of it. They move between a dark, overarching sense of universal time and intimate, personal experiences of temporal cycles. The acts of giving time, needing time, touching, and clinging take sculptural form as rings, recurring layers, leaning materials, embraces, scratches, and pinches.

The title of the exhibition refers to something that is about to happen – or waiting to happen. Raitanen came across the word pending on a plastic object she found. The object became part of a bronze sculptural collage and ultimately gave the exhibition its name. Pending captures the state in which the artist’s sculptures often exist for long periods – in the complex process of mold-making and the merging of materials and forms. Work and everyday life become intertwined in a constant state of waiting.

Raitanen has experienced a profound shift in her perception of time through becoming a parent. The need to give and treasure time, to be together and present, has grown stronger – even as hours and days seem to slip away. Someone – or something – is always in standby mode.

The sculptures also hint at ideas of shelter and protection. The present moment seems to resonate with ancient cyclical conceptions of time: early high cultures believed that history repeats in thousand-year cycles, often ending in catastrophe. Raitanen is also drawn to gates and transitions – passages into other times.

Tiina Raitanen (b. 1983) is a Helsinki-based sculptor. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2012 and completed professional project studies in sculpture at the Royal Institute of Art Stockholm from 2018 to 2019.

Raitanen has created two public sculptures: The List (2022), located in Telakkaranta, Helsinki, in front of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA); and Those Who Wait and Those Who Arrive (2024), in the courtyard of the Aallokko family centre in Seinäjoki. Raitanen’s works are included in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Cities of Helsinki and Seinäjoki, as well as in private collections. Her works have been featured in numerous exhibitions, including New Ice Age, Galleria Mältinranta, Tampere 2023; Art Odyssey 2021, Serlachius museum Gösta, Mänttä 2021; Infiltration, SIC, Helsinki 2021; and  HARD, Sinne, Helsinki 2019. In 2024, Raitanen was awarded the William Thuring designated prize.

Raitanen’s artistic work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. The exhibition is supported by the Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation. 

The artist would like to thank Valo Vairio, Maija Fox, Maija Toivanen, Milja Havas, Hanna Makkonen, Maria Kiialainen, Miikka Hietsalo, Sivia, and her parents for their help and advice.