Kaisa Huotari:
The Hiding Places of Dawn and Dusk (Hall 2)

The exhibition, The Hiding Places of Dawn and Dusk, features paintings that have decorative opening hatches built into the frames. The image attached to the hatches is painted on a fabric that has been cut into strands and twisted. When opened, the hatches delimit the space and slightly cover the paintings behind, while also casting shadows on the walls in the exhibition space. As the different image surfaces overlap, they conceal and reveal unexpected details from the artworks. Every morning, the shutters are opened into slightly different positions and closed again at the end of the day.

Hidden behind the hatches, there are descriptions of stagnant, seemingly insignificant moments and memories I have experienced living my everyday life, around dawn or dusk. These memories that have been illustrated represent quiet and subtle turning points in my life. They are portraying something that is fading, being given up, becoming revealed or something new to begin with. Through vision and careful observation, the world and its phenomena have been illuminated in a new way. These individual, almost imperceptible moments, unexpectedly reveal something deeper about existence as a whole and the nature surrounding it.

Through the images, I examine intuitive and emotional experiences, some of which may evoke longing, perhaps sadness even. Essentially the paintings are created as an attempt to understand and touch upon the feelings and themes related to life and its mundane limits. In the cycle of nature, the decaying creatures turn into organic matter and are absorbed into the roots of plants, growing something new. As the old is receding, space is created for something else to emerge, yet letting go can be difficult. Feelings may be hidden or even suppressed, but very quietly, something inside is whispering aching questions out loud.

What does it feel when darkness descends? Can darkness be eternal? What happens if the last source of light goes out.

Is there still a long time until the next dawn?

The paintings form a symbolic description of a hiding place, where the conscious gaze would otherwise rarely linger. At the same time, they serve as a reminder that although life around us is very fragile and, at its core, everything is transient, through images we can remind one another of the uniqueness, value, and profound significance inscribed in the details of life.

Kaisa Huotari (b. 1994) is an artist working in Helsinki and Uurainen. Originally from Jyväskylä, Huotari graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki, with a master’s degree in painting. She has also completed art studies at the Kankaanpää Art School. Huotari works within the field of expanded painting, and this is her eleventh solo exhibition.