{"id":86,"date":"2014-11-20T18:47:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T16:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/?page_id=86"},"modified":"2020-09-02T14:31:32","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T11:31:32","slug":"page-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Life on a Leaf"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Finnish artist Jan-Erik Andersson\u2019s Gesamtkunstwerk (or \u2018Total Art Work\u2019), the leaf shaped house Life on a Leaf, was completed in 2009. The unique house, which functions as a home for Andersson\u2019s family in Turku, was first conceived in 1999. It was planned with architect Erkki Pitk\u00e4ranta, with whom Andersson has worked for many years under the name Rosegarden Art & Architecture.<\/p>\n

Doctorate<\/h3>\n

The house is the main part of Andersson\u2019s Doctorate in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. In it Andersson imaginatively explores several issues, which address the relationship between art and architecture, and between a house and its surroundings: Can you live in a picture or a sculpture? In which ways can nature be mediated gradually into the house? Can a building based on stories and on representional shapes \u2013 like a leaf, a bluebell, and a Brasilian ferry \u2013 still be considered as architecture? Why don\u2019t we see more houses shaped like flowers, hats or shoes? Doctoral study<\/a><\/p>\n

Influences<\/h3>\n

Along with sources like Kurt Schwitters, Le Corbusier, Antoni Gaudi, Bruce Goff, Konstantin Melnikov, Hundertwasser, Archigram and Rem Koolhaas Andersson has also been inspired by the Swedish children\u2019s author, Elsa Beskow, whose tales include houses shaped like hats and umbrellas. One of Andersson\u2019s constant themes during his 30 years as an artist is the investigation and questioning of the border between the colourful and iconic aesthetics constructed by adults for children and the somber seriousness, which usually is related to adult visual culture.<\/p>\n

Invited artists<\/h3>\n

The Life on a Leaf house has inspired a dozen of Andersson\u2019s artist colleagues to make art works and poems, which are incorporated into the building \u00ac\u2013 wall and floor details, a laminated kitchen table top, wall paper, light fixtures, in-floor video work, outdoor tables and benches, environmental planning and a sound installation in a handrail which responds to changes in the wind and light outside. Andersson describes it as a way to have the friends of the family present. It also points to the social and communicative side of the house project. The house is not a sealed private house — it is a place where people with diverse thoughts and aesthetic views can meet and collaborate. Invited artists<\/a><\/p>\n

Recycled interior and IKEA<\/h3>\n

This is also reflected in the interior design. Modernist elements such as the six meters high curved white walls are combined with strongly ornate floors, kitchen cupboards from IKEA and mosaic works made as a collaborate between all the members of the family. All the wash basins, toilet stools and the bath tub are from recycle centers. The house is heated by a thermal system.<\/p>\n

A sustainable future<\/h3>\n

Andersson believes strongly that research into the visual and design aspects of a sustainable future has to be done on many levels. In the Life on a leaf project Rosegarden explores the ecologic dimension of dream, the imagination, the iconic space, and \u201cslow living\u201d \u2013 ideas, which have roots in the Arts and Crafts movement.<\/p>\n

Iconic space<\/h3>\n

In the theoretical part of his Doctorate dissertation Andersson stresses the role of detail, ornamentation and artistic intervention in making a building \u201ccome forward\u201d and become architecture in its fullest sense. Another important issue is the exploration of ways through which the surrounding nature can be mediated into the house through various cultural elements \u2013- for example through the leaf- shaped floor plan, which eschews right angles; pictorial elements as in windows shaped like leaves, teardrops, a heart, a mouth; and also through the curved shapes of the inner walls, intended to create a feeling of walking on a pathway in natural surroundings. Andersson describes the unique sense of spatiality created by these elements as \u201cIconic Space\u201d.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Finnish artist Jan-Erik Andersson\u2019s Gesamtkunstwerk (or \u2018Total Art Work\u2019), the leaf shaped house Life on a Leaf, was completed in 2009. The unique house, which functions as a home for Andersson\u2019s family in Turku, was first conceived in 1999. It was planned with architect Erkki Pitk\u00e4ranta, with whom Andersson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":102,"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744,"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/86\/revisions\/744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anderssonart.com\/leaf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}