Octet

“In my work, I depict plants to express my experience of the power of nature, the cycle of life, birth and death. The thread of life is a symbol of the continuity of life. Through various materials, I express my experience of the diversity of life and nature”.

Inari Krohn

“I have spent most of my career as an artist holding a drypoint needle while standing by a copper plate, concentrating and drawing quietly. Working with a drypoint needle has become something of a passion for me, and the steady progress I’ve made over the years—which may well have gone unnoticed by outsiders—has kept the work moving forward.

The spark that initiated my work is found in my enthusiasm for one aspect of the history of printmaking: the tradition of scientific illustration. As an image-maker, I feel I’m something of a collector. Individual prints become part of a large collection that will eventually become both an image of me and the world surrounding me. I gather thoughts and insights in an attempt to capture something essential about humanity, nature and our place in this world”.

Maija Albrecht

Sari Bremer (born 1976) is a graphic designer based in Helsinki who graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2001. Her etchings are created through a layered working process in which line etching, colour and tones create a multi-dimensional visual world.

Key themes in Bremer’s art are: the cycle of nature, transience, past generations and human relationship with the environment. In these works, ancient trees, extinct species and figures from the past symbolise the passage of time and vulnerability.

Sari Bremer

“My work features power animals—birds or butterflies—that journey and transform alongside me. Settling into stillness in nature provides the foundation for my work. My gaze always wanders to wherever my eyes rest. The surrounding beauty makes me feel good and gives me strength, which I want to convey through my work. The exhibition features my oil paintings and prints, in which the various cultures I have encountered on my artistic journeys come together and form their own imagery”.

Beata Joutsen

“In recent years, I have for example created three-dimensional works made from paper and cardboard, in which painting is combined with printmaking techniques. My artistic practice is a kind of thesis: I observe, state, gather material, edit, summarise and collect things together. My works do not usually depict real places, people or things, although they do contain parts of these; they are a visual play and an immersion in the moment of creating art”.

Pilvi Ojala

“In my work, I use various printmaking techniques such as etching, mezzotint and woodcut. Sometimes the works expand into spatial installations or incorporate a three-dimensional element. In my work, I explore the delicate and more fragile aspects of existence. My series of works in the Octet exhibition is a kind of miniature retrospective of my artistic career from four decades. In it, the delicate characters I’ve drawn at various times come together to sing the song of life”.

Laura Pohjonen

“In my recent works, I have dealth with mathematics during Japan’s feudal era. In the past in Japan, geometric problems were painted on small wooden panels, which were taken to temples as offerings. In my watercolour paintings, I have varied a geometric dilemma called Atago.

Besides mathematics, I am inspired by the chemistry and history of colour pigments. I have made the watercolour paints that I use in my paintings from historical, inorganic colour pigments – colours that were used in feudal Japan. My watercolour paintings combine the beauty and sacredness of mathematics, Japanese culture, and the chemistry and history of colours”.

Metta Savolainen

Hanna Westerberg (1976) graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Art from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1998. The artist made their début in 1992 and held their first solo exhibition in 1995.

“My art is based on colour and line. I move between the extremes of the image, from a narrative image to abstraction, and from dissective drawing and painting to large-scale, exuberant expression. It is important to me how the works in my exhibition relate to one another, as well as the viewer and the surrounding space. I see my exhibition as a drama with a beginning, a middle and an end”.

Hanna Westerberg