Underneath the nordic sky | Solo exhibition by Nanna Susi

REGGIA DI VENARIA REALE, Testata delle Scuderie Juvarriane

19 JULY – 3 AUGUST 2014

The Finnish painter Nanna Susi has been invited as the only visual artist to represent the Nordic visual arts during Teatro a Corte festival in Turin. This summer, from July 19th to August 3rd, her solo exhibition will be on display at the famous ”Reggia di Venaria Reale”, the royal residence of the Savoy family. The exhibition, curated by Krista Mikkola and organized by Fondazione TPE and La Venaria Reale, consists of 20 paintings, from the years 2012 -2014.

After her graduation from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1997, Susi rose to prominence through Tampere Art Museum’s exhibition “Young Artist of the Year 2000”. Ever since, she has held numerous private shows around Finland and Europe, and has taken part in group-exhibitions on an international scale. She has participated to the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Rome and in Turin. In 2012, Susi’s recent artistic production, from the years 2011 and 2012, was showcased in a vast exhibition at the Helsinki Art Museum.

The landscape of Nanna Susi

Neither the matter nor the spirit remain still in Nanna Susi’s paintings. Everything is in a constant change. Continents transform to a sea, trees to the clouds, love to a languor. Hearts are wandering on a drying rope under the light of a fir–tree. The female figures in the portraits move from maiden to a phantom. In spite of a constant metamorphosis, there is an inner peace emerging from the paintings.

The tension between flutter and tranquility entwines the spectator as a part of a dreamlike landscape, which is observed through the huge eyes of a cat-woman. Eyes that are looking wisely but capricious.

The artist is not alone with her paintings. She shares everything with the viewer. The event of looking is an equally important issue as the event of painting. There is a one-eyed cat in a painting; the missing eye appears as a planet on its orbit. Everything can’t be visible. Feelings must appear.

The passion for painting, the colour and the rich brushwork, capture the attention at once. Everything, from the huddles of paint to the smooth canvas can be found on Nanna’s paintings. Such paintings should be looked like a sculpture: go near them, walk before them, move back and forth. Changing the way we look on an art-work brings the same passion to the surface of the painting as the moment of its creation. When generating her works, Nanna Susi uses what happens to be at hand. Sometimes hands full of paint are enough. The paint is felt physically and while meditating the work. The paw of a wolf (susi in Finnish) tears the surface of a painting alive.

“Painting is like a magic trick, it´s hunting” says Nanna Susi.

Nana’s latest works have been made especially for Torino. Along with Helsinki, her hometown is Rome. Returning to Italy inspires her to one of her most creative periods, while Reggia di Venaria Reale offers a splendid venue for the blaze of colour created by Nanna Susi.

Asko Mäkelä, Art Historian

Info

Artist: Nanna Susi

Curator: Krista Mikkola – BJCEM Emerita President 

Organizzation: Teatro a Corte – Fondazione TPE

La Venaria Reale CVC

Production: Ulla Panuma / Helsinki

Afrodite Oikonomidou / Turin

Exhibition Design: Giovanni Tironi

Set-up: Opendoor

Transportation: O. Jylha Oy

Exhibition opening

Saturday, July 19^th at 8.00 pm.

Opening hours

July: tue-fri 10am-4pm sat-sun 9.30am -7:30pm

August: tue-fri 10am-6pm sat-sun 9:30am-7:30pm

During the Teatro a Corte performances the exhibition will remain opened.