Pori Art Museum, Turku Art Museum 1990
In the 80:ties it was common for the rising stars of the art scene to have retrospective exhibitions, normally reserved for older artists, when they were in their 30:ties. These exhibitions were ironically called baby retrospectives by art critics.
During the 80:ties I used my favourite artists’ works and ideas as starting point for my own works. Usually I put my own world and experiences in a play against my more famous colleagues. The list of artist I commented on is long, for example Leonardo, Caspar David Friedrich, Kandinsky, Richard Long, Tony Cragg, Ellsworth Kelly, The Futurists.
Ever since I left Art School in 1982, I have used the primary forms; the triangle, the circle and the square as a string of beads connecting different works with each other forming a continuous story.
As an end for the series of works commenting other artists, I arranged my own Baby Retrospective. After this exhibition I wanted to move further on, concentrating more on my relationship to my surrounding, both human beings and the built environment, as a starting point for my works. And to study how art can be a part of architecture to create a more stimulating environment. Doing my retrospective exhibition this early, I also had the idea that after that I could be free to do whatever I like. It also released energy for a more free approach to art.
photo:Henry Edman
