OBJECTS REIMAGINED

Elli Maanpää 2020 // Acrylic paintings on stuff

I’ve collected these treasures from recycling bins all over Helsinki. These little canvases are both inspirational, ecological and budget friendly. That plexiglass on “Behind the Window” I dumpster dived on the day the Museum of Finnish Architecture was moving to a new location. I painted the bird on the other side of the glass so it had to be painted on opposite order: from details to the whole. The glass jar in “Think Outside the Jar” and “Holy Freedom” was used for mixing paints before it turned into an art work.

“Butterfly Beneficiary” is painted on a wooden sailor teddy bear photograph frame. The painting is based on a saying that I heard when I was living in Malaysia 2009. Someone told me that when a butterfly landed on my nose that it meant I was lucky and I was gonna get married. I was glad about the luck but I wasn’t so excited about the marriage. “I’m not sure yet” I wanted to tell the butterfly “Don’t make me your beneficiary“.

In old days marriage was a way for women to break free from their parents care. To become women instead of a child in the eye of society. In modern day – in Western world like Finland – it’s not the case. There’s the whole world to experience as an individual. None of which needs a marriage. There’s nothing wrong with husbands and wives – especially the nice kind that make you good coffee in the mornings. But butterfly: Don’t bless women with marriage. Bless them with wisdom, fortune and good health.

EXHIBITIONS

• 18.-23.2.2020, Pinnan Yli, Galleria Albert IX, Helsinki