Yesterday
A warm welcome to the opening on Tuesday June 28th at 5-7pm.
Aulis Harmaala´s oil paintings and sculptures deal with nostalgia. His works lead to personal issues and memories, changes in the society and individual lifestyles. For example, he paints a reindeer wandering from Northern Finland to Sahara or a crocodile emerging from the stream that flows through the felled forest. A wooden sculpture has Nokia’s mobile phone. Urbanization, northern landscapes and popular culture are involved in the stories of his images.
In times of uncertainty, nostalgia is a multi-tone coping mechanism. Longing for lost times excuses political goals, it shapes identity, it consoles, promotes marketing… Nostalgic emotions can be critically explored: it is an opportunity to accept one’s own past. Thus, nostalgic experiences are tools for confronting new things and changes. The works in this exhibition stimulate discussion of both individual and societal themes.
The exhibition highlights that nostalgic emotions are individual, diverse and open for interpretations.
Aulis Harmaala graduated from Aalto University in 2011 with a Master´s degree in art. He was born in 1966 in Ranua, Finland and lives in Espoo. His current work focuses on painting and wood carving. In the past, his methods have been installations including participative elements built into the space.
He thinks that the artistic work is a slow social interaction, in which one first settles into being with oneself. The work is completed when it turns viewers to interpret and share their experience. Among others, the Helsinki Art Museum has included his works to its collection.
