Renowned artist Anna Retulainen is set to open her latest exhibition, "Butterfly Garden," at Helsinki Contemporary, running from August 9 to September 8, 2024. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, August 8, from 5–7 p.m.
For the past fifteen years, Retulainen has meticulously cultivated a garden that has become an integral part of her artistic expression.
Described by visitors as “stepping into a painting,” her garden is both a living artwork and a source of inspiration for her paintings. "Butterfly Garden" invites visitors to experience the sensation of walking into a garden through the medium of painting.
Retulainen’s garden is designed primarily for the benefit of insects, reflecting her deep concern about insect decline. This theme is woven through her work, combining painterly expression with a contemplation of beauty and nature.
For Retulainen, painting and gardening are intertwined activities. Her paintings are not mere depictions of plants but conceptual maps for future gardens. This interplay between her garden and her artwork highlights the contrasts and connections between controlling paint on a canvas and nurturing unpredictable plant life.
Much like her garden, Retulainen’s paintings are composed of layers. The processes of priming, overpainting, scraping, and erasing in her art mirror the cycles of planting, transplanting, and weeding in her garden. Fallen leaves from the previous year protect the soil and nourish new growth, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and creativity.
A garden, as Retulainen sees it, is a human-made miniature world and a representation of nature. She aims to interfere as little as possible with the natural processes in her garden, treating it with a straightforward respect where humans are merely visitors to the plants, trees, and insects that inhabit it.
Born in 1969, Anna Retulainen divides her time between Helsinki and Berlin. She has been exhibiting her work both in Finland and internationally since the 1990s, and her paintings are part of all major Finnish art collections. Retulainen has been painting gardens for over thirty years, making "Butterfly Garden" her seventh solo exhibition at Helsinki Contemporary.
Exhibition Details
- Exhibition: Anna Retulainen: Butterfly Garden
- Dates: August 9 – September 8, 2024
- Opening Reception: Thursday, August 8, 5–7 p.m.
- Location: Helsinki Contemporary
Join us to explore the seamless blend of painting and gardening in Anna Retulainen’s "Butterfly Garden," where art and nature converge to create a unique sensory experience.
HT
