LEENA NIO – IMPROVED PAINTINGS

Leena Nio’s new paintings are all about layers ­– both physically and symbolically. Layering has always been Nio’s signature technique, but this time the concept is taken to the next level. Nio experiments with a new technical idiosyncrasy in each of her exhibitions, with each painting taking its cue from a minor, commonplace occurrence. The mundanity leaves plenty of room for both the painting process and the viewer’s interpretations to unfold freely.

Like many peers of her generation, Nio collected stickers and Victorian die-cuts in her childhood. These “stickers” have now found their way into her paintings. The glossy, lacquered pictorial elements hovering on the surface of the canvas are – despite being hand-painted – deceptively reminiscent of stickers or die-cuts. They are like emojis added to a text message. Or Instagram posts with added stickers and filters. The paintings in the exhibition achieve the same effect: using 21st-century tools, they take the message to the next level. With her add-on flourishes, Nio also self-reflexively comments on her process. Often finding it difficult to know when to finish a painting, she adds the final sticker as if dotting an “i” or crossing a “t.”

Opposite – Cherry, 2021

Exhibition runs through to February 28th, 2021

Galerie Forsblom
Galerie Forsblom Yrjönkatu 22
00120 Helsinki
Finland

www.galerieforsblom.com

CHRIS JOHANSON

Comprising of scenes and abstracted forms, Johanson’s works addresses thoughts of an existential nature, and reflect the experience of our current times. Incorporating leading and probing texts within the charged imagery, Johanson encourages the viewer to query what is presented, and to consider the parallels in our lives.
His treatment of such scenes and the starkness in which the details are presented suggest fragments of recollection, or documentation of activities of the past year.
Phrases like ‘Who Knows’, ‘Occupy Time’ and the placement of words seen in And, While all allude to the uncertainty and sense of waiting pervading the global community. In Remember, two figures on scooters in the centre of a hazy blue setting conjure a nostalgia for a carefree normality that now seems alien in contrast to the masked figures in spaced seating depicted in (LA Metro Silver Linings Public Art Project drawing #6) that is now ubiquitous. First And Foremost, This Is A Person features a solitary figure clad in black, kneeling with both arms in the air, indisputably brings to mind recent headlines. In most of the paper works, there is an urgency in its execution, capturing only the key details of the overall scene to convey particular moments and emotions.

Opposite – What I Can Say, 2020-21

Exhibition runs through to March 1st, 2021

The Modern Institute
3 Aird’s Lane
G1 5HU Glasgow
Scotland

www.themoderninstitute.com