PHOTOGRAPHIC GALLERY HIPPOLYTE

Yrjönkatu 8–10 (courtyard), 00120 Helsinki, Finland, +358 9 612 33 44, www.hippolyte.fi
Open: Tue–Fri 12–17, Sat–Sun 12–16

1.–24.11.2013
HANNA VIHRIÄLÄ
Diana and the Hound

The works in Diana and the Hound continue Hanna Vihriälä’s strand of works based on aesthetic, everyday observations. They take on a form situated somewhere between the graphic image, painting and three-dimensional work.

Vihriälä’s works combine the mundane with Roman mythology, Diana, the goddess of youth and hunting. In art history Diana is often depicted in a deciduous forest, followed by a dog and carrying a deer by its antlers on her shoulder… A similar, sepia-toned forest is also the favored setting for paintings of hunting parties and hounds from different eras. The hunting imagery of today is still very much reliant on similar depictions of the forest and light.

The expressiveness of the physical material is also very important in Hanna Vihriälä’s exhibition. The artist uses materials that otherwise would rarely receive notice, for instance gravel, used on icy pavements, or sweets, scattered on a shop floor.

In Hanna Vihriälä‘s  (b. 1974, Oulainen, Finland) work a constant theme has been an interest towards observation and space, and expressions that lie inbetween sculpture, graphic surface and painting. Her previous solo exhibitions have been in Finland at Oulu Museum of Art (with Villu Jaanisoo) in 2012 and in 2009 at Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art in Turku, as well as at Forum Box in Helsinki (with Villu Jaanisoo). Her works can be found in several public collections in Finland, including Helsinki Art Museum, Amos Anderson Art Museum, the Finnish State Art Collection and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

Vihirälä’s latest public pieces include, Elephant Square placed in front of Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, the museum of history and contemporary art in Turku and Laidunmaa (The Pasture) in Malminkartano in Helsinki, both finalized in 2011.

Hanna Vihriälä, Diana, 2013 (gravel)