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© Image: Kuvasto

Fundamentals

Juha Okko

Pohjois-Haagan ala-asteen koulu, Tolarintie 6, 00400 Helsinki

Indoor Sculpture

This work by Juha Okko (b. 1963, Rovaniemi) consists of murals in the school staircase and oil paintings made on sheets of steel that are mounted on the murals. Some of the metal sheets have a polished mirror surface. According to Okko, the difference between the patterns painted directly onto the wall and the paintings made in the studio is important: “The patterns on the wall frame the space and the work as a whole: they establish a context within which the paintings executed in different ways live their own lives.”

The installation utilises the fundamental elements of painting – colour, composition, texture and gesture – to establish different themes on the various floors of the school. The general colour palette on each storey is aligned with the primary colours of yellow, red and blue. Themes associated with form consist of texture, surface and line, while the composition-related theme covers rhythm, number, direction and overlap. By contrast to the patterns on the walls that are simplified and flat and with precise outlines, the oil paintings emphasise multi-colourism, form and painterly gestures.

The main motifs are people, landscapes and still lifes. The faces of children underline vision and observation – being alert in the world. The polished mirror surfaces allow viewers to see themselves as part of the space and the installation.

At the topmost flight of stairs, repetition enters the picture. The still life – wilted tulips in an Aalto vase – employs multiple means of expression, including lines, hues, superimposition, mirror imaging, symmetry and asymmetry, surfaces created with dots, and grand painterly gestures.

The installation was commissioned by HAM and it belongs to the collection of the City of Helsinki, managed by HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

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