Giants and Uncertain Atmospheres at the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum

Gas Giant by Jacob Hashimoto 

The Wäinö Aaltonen Art Museum is having a really good year. Their exhibitions tend to go for the more "out there" stuff, some of which is amazing and some just going for the shock value; the shock value stuff tends to leave me cold, but art is subjective, of course. Fortunately, the current exhibition, Jacob Hashimoto's Giants and Uncertain Atmospheres, soars right into the "amazing" category.

Hashimoto's work is colourful, fun, and inspired by science fiction and video games, so it's right up my alley. He uses a lot of kites in his work, like the installation pictured above. A photo can't do it justice. You need to experience the scale of it to really get a feel for how beautiful it is. 

Super-Robots and Celestial Mechanics

I liked the mix of Japanese minimalism and playfulness. Kids would love this exhibition. Some of the pieces reminded me of fractals and vintage video games, and I loved the use of science fiction elements, like references to wormholes and spaceships.

   This one has the feel of '50s science fiction cover art.

The Air Smelled of Subversion and Boundaries, All Glitter with Bright, Sourceless Light

This piece showcases Hashimoto's interesting technique. Are the shadows cast by the piece part of the piece, or just coincidental? Could one construct a story based on the visual representation here? And don't you love that title? 

The exhibition is open until September 24th, if you want to check it out. 

A Surprising Side of Wäinö Aaltonen

Finland is celebrating its 100th year of independence this year, and the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in Turku is joining in with an exhibition of Wäinö Aaltonen's work. When I think of Aaltonen, what comes to mind are his sculptures, like these gilded figures that once stood in the Finnish Parliament. Apparently they were deemed too ostentatious and replaced with bronze casts at some point, but the originals are returning to the parliament house this year as part of the celebration. But that's not all there is to Aaltonen, and this exhibition is a great opportunity to see some of his more experimental work. 

This one is titled Beholder from the Depth. Pretty Lovecraftian, no?

Atlantis II. I love that dreamy, fairy-tale blue. 

This piece was hard to photograph, but that dark bit is actually missing. The piece is titled Shadow on the Face.  It's super creepy in person, because if you approach from the left, it looks like a perfectly normal sculpture, and then you suddenly see that gash on her face. Unsettling. 

The exhibition is running until May 7th if you want to check it out. 

Heikki Willamo's Mythical Voyage

In the caves of the mind

Salo Art Museum is holding an exhibition of Heikki Willamo's nature photography from Feb 4th to May 5th this year. The exhibition is titled "A Mythical Voyage," and in addition to the photographs includes a soundscape made especially for the exhibition by musician Kie Von Herzen and the short nature film Eläimen kuva (The Animal Image) by Perttu Saksa. 

Willamo is a well-known Finnish nature photographer, and the exhibition celebrates his long career and his deep relationship with nature. We were lucky enough to visit the museum when the artist himself was present and doing a special introduction tour of the exhibit. He told us he was inspired by the ancient cave paintings of South-Western Europe, Finland, and Norway, which made him think about the way our ancestors related to nature and how we relate to it today. He wanted to do pieces that continued the tradition of imaging nature, that would place him as one link in the chain beginning from Ancient Man and continuing into the future.

 In the photographs the Icelandic horse stands in for the wild horse, for example, but the mythical quality comes right through. All the photographs are in black and white, which adds to the effect, especially with the blurry photographs alluding to the ancient Finnish belief of metsänpeitto, a way of getting lost into the magical woods so that only a shaman can save you. Ordinary mortals could pass right by and only see a rock or a tree stump, leaving you wandering the woods for all time.

As a writer, I found the images intriguing. They aren't just nature photographs: they tell a story. I also liked the strange and enthralling mood of the exhibition, especially the smoky, slightly distorted images in the metsänpeitto room. If you're writing about Finnish mythology, this exhibition will inspire you for sure. You can almost hear the ancient shamanic rhyming spells in the background. 

Dare you step into metsänpeitto, lose yourself in the woods?

Regrettably it looks like the museum website is only available in Finnish, but if you're in the neighbourhood, do check the exhibition out; the powerful images speak for themselves. Not in Finland? You can see some of the pieces on Willamo's website.