Heikki Marila @ Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki - Paintings

Heikki Marila: Paintings

Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki

November 24, 2023 – January 7, 2024

Leading Finnish contemporary artist HEIKKI MARILA presents a new exhibition themed around the trope of flowers. Rich in allusions to art history, the show is startling in its thematic monumentality. Heikki Marila painted his first floral compositions back in 2009, drawing inspiration from the opulent idiom of the 17th-century Dutch still life genre. Heikki Marila has recently continued his explorations of the floral theme, which he finds banal in certain respects – yet this is precisely what makes it so intriguing.

Heikki Marila’s recent renditions of the floral theme have acquired new layers of meaning. In his new works, flowers have become emphatically corporeal interpretations of aesthetic form and pictorial truth. There is tangible tension between their accentuated aestheticism and the artist’s aggressive technique, which has him literally throwing the paint at the canvas – bombing it, if you will. The paint splatters on the canvas in fragmented clots, breaking up both the pictorial surface and the subject into shattered pieces. Heikki Marila throws himself into the physical act of painting. For him, physical gesture and the imprint on the canvas are indissolubly merged. It would not be an overstatement to say that the act is sometimes more significant than the subject.

The second series of works in the exhibition consists of translucent, watercolor-like compositions in which Heikki Marila employs line as a narrative device. By adding shape-framing contours, line engages in dialogue with the painted picture planes. Moving beyond mimetic representation, the paintings in this series subtly whisper rather than directly state what is being portrayed. Progressive abstractification is part of Heikki Marila’s process. Flowers are still present, conveying layers of history that are manifest both as subtle details and abstracted variations.

HEIKKI MARILA (b. 1966) has exhibited widely across Finland, the Nordic countries and Europe. He is represented in numerous major collections, such as the Sara Hildén Art Museum, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, HAM Helsinki Art Museum, the Finnish National Gallery, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, and the US-based TIA Collection.

A catalog presenting Heikki Marila’s artworks is published in conjunction with the exhibition.

GALERIE FORSBLOM

Yrjönkatu 22 - 00120 Helsinki

www.galerieforsblom.com

Heikki Marila @ Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki - Miasma II | Still Life After Rachel Ruysch

Heikki Marila: Miasma II | Still Life After Rachel Ruysch 

Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki 

10 June – 15 August 2021 

This year marks the 30-year career anniversary of HEIKKI MARILA (b. 1966), who ranks among Finland’s leading contemporary artists. It is only fitting, then, that he should celebrate his jubilee by revisiting a theme that has figured prominently in his oeuvre: floral motifs. Heikki Marila painted his first floral compositions over a decade ago, and it was for these early floral pieces that he received the coveted Carnegie Award. His early paintings drew inspiration from the extravagant opulence of the 17th century Dutch still life genre, and the same can be said of his recent paintings, too, although they reflect not only on history but also comment on contemporary society. While adhering to the same genre, Heikki Marila has revitalized his technique in a way that invites wholly fresh interpretations.

The exhibition consists of two distinct series of works that are presented separately in the gallery space: Miasma II and Still life After Rachel Ruysch. The earlier Miasma series depicts bouquets that Heikki Marila has dried or intentionally allowed to decompose in his home or studio. The paintings not only meditate on the artist’s personal history but also comment on the chaos of the current age. The title, meaning ‘poisonous vapor’, seemed an apt word to describe the toxic age we are living in today. Heikki Marila’s new paintings mark an attempt to paint away the contagious foul odor that contaminates our contemporary reality. The artist’s intensely expressive style of painting heightens the emotive impact of the content.

The second series of paintings is based on floral compositions by the still life painter Rachel Ruysch (1664–1751). Heikki Marila’s versions are not direct reproductions; they merely echo certain details found in Ruysch’s work. The entire series consists of variations of the same painting, each one distinguishable from the next only by studying certain subtle details. Marila has employed a similar serial approach in his earlier still life compositions, but his latest works stand out in their lightness of touch and in the unprecedented translucency of the layering of paint.

Heikki Marila has exhibited widely around Finland, the Nordic countries and Europe. His works are found in numerous notable collections, including the Sara Hildén Art Museum, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Helsinki Art Museum HAM, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Art Collection, and the Tia Collection in the USA.

Heikki Marila’s new show at Forsblom coincides with an exhibition at Laukko Manor casting a look back at his paintings from last decade inspired by old masters.

GALERIE FORSBLOM

Yrjönkatu 22 - 00120 Helsinki

www.galerieforsblom.com

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Heikki Marila @ Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki

Heikki Marila: Paintings
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
January 11 – February 10, 2019

Heikki Marila (b. 1966) ranks among Finland’s leading contemporary artists. His new monumental oils are steeped in conceptual influences from art history, their powerful expressionism fusing with the nimble grace of Baroque and Rococo painting. Their lyrical sensibility is heightened by a palette of nuanced pastels. The canvas is a riot of contrasts, mixing rich, sophisticated brushwork with overflowing exuberance of form. Heikki Marila’s free, generous technique celebrates the sensual seductiveness of the surface while also hinting at more complex depths that lie beneath.

Heikki Marila’s latest works were born of a compelling impulse to paint. Among his sources of inspiration were the magnificent ceiling frescos of the churches and castles seen by the artist on his recent travels in southern Germany, which struck him as resembling “cream cakes” in their extravagant opulence. Heikki Marila is fascinated by the lavish splendor of Baroque and Rococo art, a chapter of art history that is echoed intriguingly in his new paintings. Their idiom of expression is much flightier than Heikki Marila’s usual style – the series itself charts his evolution towards a more buoyant visual language. He places heavy accents on details, hinting at the presence of something great that remains hidden. Although the artist has abandoned figurative expression in favor of pure abstraction, the compositions evoke the idea of figures floating in the heavens. In keeping with the historical theme, some of his canvases are oval, marking a return to the round and oval forms favored by Heikki Marila in the 1990s.

Heikki Marila has exhibited widely around Finland, the Nordic countries and Europe. His works are represented in numerous notable collections, including the Sara Hildén Art Museum, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, Helsinki Art Museum HAM and the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Art Collection.

Galerie Forsblom
Lönnrotinkatu 5 / Yrjönkatu 22, 00120 Helsinki
www.galerieforsblom.com