el quadern robat/ Galeria d’art contemporani

Kervinen, Elena

If I had to define the new work in one pharse it would be; “They are telling us there is another world outside ours, out in the universe and there’s also another dimension for us as individuals, other than the everyday life.”

The new drawings fuse different time and space, the attainable and the unreachable. The material and the spiritual are here and now. Or using the words by François Cheng, whom I’ll be citing all along the text; “Chinese thought does not separate matter and spirit. It reasons in terms of life, which is the basic unit.”

Conceptually I feel very near to the Chinese philosophy of art. The ideas like “joining finite to infinite” , “entering into complete communion with the infinite realm” , “sensing behind the solid form the workings of an invisible dynamic flow” and “opening to the universal resonance”, express perfectly what I aim to accomplish with my art. The technique or the method in the Chinese painting doesn’t have any similarities with my work, but the intention to create “a transfigured space” or to”reveal a deeper structure:” seem to describe completely what I search.

The many hours I pass with a drawing so that it’s finished, is a meditation for me. That too reminds me of the Chinese philosophy; “…the desire to reunite with the original Desire from which the universe itself seems to proceed.” The work is slow and often feels like constructing, as the image is structured of thousands of lines. The direction of them, the movement they create, is an important aspect of the drawing. The lines connect the whole piece and the direction of them guides the gaze. I often think that the net, which the lines of the drawing produce, is a good metaphor for the substance that forms all that exists. This reminds me again how the Chinese cosmology describes something similar; “…the first thinkers advanced a unitary, organic conception of the universe in which everything is linked and held together. The primordial Breath that ensures the original unity continues to animate all beings, linking them into a gigantic, interwoven, engendering network…”

In the new work I’m returning back to a concept of a “magical place where everything is always fine”, “the world of pure things”, I had already worked with. These drawings which seem landscapes from another reality are both familiar and odd at the same time. Maybe something similar is happening somewhere right now….

When observing images of the universe I always think that everything is Beauty. In the contemporary art, sometimes, beauty is seen as something superfluous. From my point of view beauty is vital. To end I will again cite François Cheng; “Each experience of beauty, so brief in time, even as it transcends time, restores to us the freshness of the dawn of the world.”

Elena Kervinen

2021 Immortal, November 16, 2021 – February 26, 2022

2020 el quadern robat, Exposició / Exposición / Exhibition. En confinament

2019 cinc anys a les trinxeres (five years in the trenches) May 16, 2019 -

2019 September 28, 2019

2016 El teixit secret,(The secret weave) February 16, 2016 – may 14, 2016

2014 Un canvi d’aires, (Change of scene) April 3, 2014 – July 2014

Elena Kervinen, (Iisalmi, Finlad, 1970) lives and works in Barcelona

Studies:

1991 - Vapaa Taidekoulu, Finland
1993-97 - Escola Massana, Barcelona
1996 - Winchester School of Art, Great Britain
1997 - Ecole des Beaux –Arts de Saint Etienne, France

Solo shows:

2016 - “El teixit secret”, el quadern robat, Barcelona

2009 - Axis Contemporary Art, Calgary, Canada

. Poriginal Gallery, Pori Art Museum, Finland

. La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain

2008 - La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain

. Galleri Ingela S, Stockholm, Sweden

. Gallery Carree, Kuopio, Finland

. Galleria Bronda, Helsinki, Finland

2006 - Kroma, Galeria d’Art, Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain

. La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain

2005 - Galeria Bronda, Helsinki, Finland

2004 - Gallery 47, London, Great Britain

2003 - Finnish Institute, Madrid, Spain

2002 - Galleria Bronda, Helsinki, Finland

2000 - Galería Maria José Castellví, Barcelona, Spain

1998 - Centre Civic Carmel, Barcelona, Spain

Group shows:

2014 - Ars Europa Kustavi 2014 , Finland

. "Un canvi d’aires", el quadern robat, Barcelona

2012 - "Poquer de damas", La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain

2011 - "Masterpieces", La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain
. The Affordable Art Fair, London

2010 - ForoSur 2010, Caseres, Spain
. The Affordable Art Fair, London

2008 - Art London contemporary art fair, London
. "Miniatures", Galeria Contrast, Barcelona
. "Silenci", La Galeria, Barcelona, Spain

2007 - L’usine Galerie, Brussels

2006 - L’usine Galerie, Brussels

2005 - InArt International Art Fair 2005, Girona, Spain

2003 - Galería 3 y 5, Playa d’Aro, Spain

2000 -Art Expo, Barcelona, Spain

1999 - Art Expo Jove, Barcelona, Spain

. Galería Maria José Castellví, Spain

1998 - Miquel Casablancas, Spain

. Vitte Zaal, Belgium

. "Stripart", Barcelona, Spain

1997 - Espai 13, Miró Foundation, Spain

. Art Public, Barcelona, Spain

1996 . Galería Espai Blanc, Barcelona, Spain

. Capella, Barcelona, Spain

Pictures represented in private collections:

Works in private collections in Finland, Spain, Great Britain and

United States

Publications and articles:

Catalogue « Al Marge », Vitte Zaal, Belgium
Abc, 7.2.1999 ,Ángela Molina
Avui, 6.5. 1999, Montse Frisach
La Vanguardia, 6.4.1999, Juan Bufill
El País, 8.5.1999
Helsingin Sanomat , 17.10.2002, Marja-Terttu Kiviranta
Helsingin Sanomat, 2005, Jukka Yli-Lassila
La Vanguardia, 2007, Ignasi Viladevall-Palaus
Avui, Capsula, 15.3.2006, Carles Hac Mor
Bonart, March 2006
Catalogue “El mon de les coses pures” 2006, La Galeria, Barcelona
La Vanguardia ,1.4.2006, Juan Bufill
La Vanguardia ,2.4.2006, Juan Bufill
La Vanguardia, 8.3. 2008, Juan Bufill
Kirkko ja Koti, 27.3.2008, Kaarina Oittinen
Savon Sanomat, 28.3.2008, Risto Löf
La Vanguardia , 20.09.2008, Juan Bufill
Satakunnan Kansa, August 2009
Uusi Aika, July 2009, Tuomas Bärlund

artists in collaboration

Kervinen, Elena