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Fox’s Dream, Rowan

Leena Nio

Indoor Sculpture

Leena Nio’s (b. 1982, Helsinki) two large oil paintings Fox’s Dream and Rowan are installed in staircases at the Pihlajamäki Primary School. The central subject of both works is encounters between animals and a rowan tree during two seasons, winter and autumn.

“I approached the rowan tree from the perspective of two different stories and animals. Fox’s Dream is based on Aesop’s famous fable about the fox and the grapes – in Finland rowanberries are substituted for grapes. Rowan was inspired by an attack from a flock of waxwings on berries hanging in an autumnal rowan tree.”

The tree and the animals are rendered in a notional manner, granting motion, rhythm and paint a status that parallels that of the motif. Both painting are produced with a layered technique that makes use of paper stencils and cello tape. In the final painting, thin and thick layers of paint alternate. The location of the pictures in a staircase allows them to be viewed from different levels and angles. The paintings appear to change as the viewer moves, and they seem different when viewed from afar or close up.

The works were produced under the Percent for Art programme, and they belong to the collection of the City of Helsinki, administrated by HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

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