MARK & POTTA • MTKA • JESSICA SILJANDER: BITS AND PIECES
October 5th – November 11th, 2023
Welcome to the opening of Pasila Urban Art Center’s new exhibition on Wednesday 4th of October at 6 – 8 PM!
The opening is free and open to all, and small snacks and drinks are provided. Bits and Pieces exhibition explores different approaches to recycling art, materials, and ideas.
Mark & Potta recycle their own works, continuing and building them again. This way of working brings layers and overlapping meanings to the works. The works of the artist duo function as a kind of working blocks and components, forming new and changing entities, growing together into new stories. This is a statement against the idea that an artist should constantly produce something new.
Mark & Potta is Helsinki-based visual artist’s Tuija Markonsalo’s alter ego and a dream image of an artist duo, the other part of which she would like to be, but she has to be both.
@tuijamarkonsalo
www.mer.fi
MTKA is a multidisciplinary artist from Estonia. MTKA creates mosaics from leftovers of stained-glass studios and other recycled material. The brick-sized mosaics are a continuation of the series “Manifestation against grey bricks” created in 2018. The artist grew up in the 90ies in Estonia – a country that was full of soviet “architecture” from grey bricks. The multicoloured and bright brick imitation in stained glass speaks of a new era, where the grey and oppressive everyday depression of the soviet era has been left behind. One can only imagine what daily life meant under a repressive regime in a country where the everyday environment was dominated by greyness – the asphalt, the brick walls, often the sky.
In Estonia and Eastern Europe, grey brick walls remind us of the former reign of mental terror. In light of the war in Ukraine, these walls force us to value freedom even more. The series “Manifestation against grey bricks”, created before the war in Ukraine, is unfortunately even more relevant today than in 2018.
Jessica Siljander (AlienJessy) is a self-taught artist from Helsinki. Themes of horror are recurring in her works, and she draws inspiration from the fears of her childhood, 70s and 80s horror movies, religious imagery, and various horror stories. Siljander primarily works with acrylics and watercolors, occasionally utilizing recycled materials for, e.g., painting bases.
Siljander focuses on the various forms and evolution of nightmares and bogeymen in this exhibition. She addresses her childhood fears and more mature nightmarish visions. The works form an exceptionally personal ensemble, offering a direct glimpse into her life. Siljander wishes to unite viewers through relatable fears and challenges them to experience the nostalgia of bogeymen while also discovering the humor behind them.
“This exhibition is dedicated to all who tuck their feet under the blanket when going to sleep and run out of a dark room after turning off the lights – you are not alone.”
@artsyalienjessy
The exhibition can be freely viewed until November 11th during the gallery’s opening hours:
WED 12–8 PM
THU 12-6 PM
FRI 12–6 PM
SAT 1–5 PM
