Marja Kolu: Tiloissa – esinekoosteita ja tilateoksia
Artist Marja Kolu finds the materials for her spatial works in the surrounding reality. As a rethinker of found objects, she follows in the footsteps of the Dadaists, Surrealists and Fluxus. The absurdity of life and black humour add a further flavour to Kolu’s polemical works. His career was initiated by objects found in demolished wooden quarters in Kuopio.
The relationship of the artwork to space and the interaction with the public were among the key denominators of Marja Kolu’s production from the beginning. In the exhibition Everything disappears in white, staged at the Lapua Art Museum in 2021, the artist chose to paint her recycled materials white, invisible. In this way, he gave the objects–and his own thoughts–a liberation, a resurrection.
Kankaanpää Gallery’s invitational exhibition In Spaces refers to both the space we are in and the human condition. The exhibition at Kankaanpää Gallery features spatial works and object compositions in three rooms. Everything Disappears in White is a spatial work consisting of discarded objects and clothes. Rooms two and three show narrative and conceptual object compositions, which can be seen as visual commentaries on the contemporary moment. The object compositions are from Kolu’s older, as well as more recent, oeuvre. The artist presents his own mental states, created in spaces assembled from different materials. The works do not seek to present a single interpretation. The works are created through the combination of different materials as connotations, creating a new story, a feeling for the viewer to experience.
About the artist:
Visual artist Marja Kolu (b.1956) is originally from Keminmaa. She lives and works in Mustasaari, Pohjanmaa. Kolu studied at the Kankaanpää Art School 1979-1981 and at the Repin Institute in Leningrad 1987-1988 and graduated with a Master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Jyväskylä in 2013. He has worked as a provincial artist in Central Finland and Ostrobothnia.
The opening will take place on Thursday 7 August at 18:00 and the artist will be available for press interviews on the same day at 14:00 or at a time to be agreed. Welcome!
Extended opening hours during Gallery Week Finland:
Galleriaviikolla normaalia laajemmat aukioloajat:
Tue 12–16
Wed–Fri 12–18
Sat 11–14
Sun 12–16
Free entrance