ART CITIES:Helsinki-Emma Jääskeläinen
Emma Jääskeläinen works mainly with sculpture and video. Her works portray personal memories and narratives in dialogue with the history and physicality of sculpture. Jääskeläinen is interested in different possibilities of sculpture moving from socially engaging and interactive works to objects of desire. She likes to imagine things and people in unexpected situations, like her grandma as a young girl stretching on a golden yoga mat
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Kiasma Archive
Lately Emma Jääskeläinen has been interested in long and meditative processes like stone carving combined with lighter materials functioning as accessories, comical or performative gestures that mold abstract forms more figurative. Those “feminine touche’s”, as she calls them, break the illusion of forever that the stone sculpture might suggest. Jääskeläinen is currently working on a long-term project ”Moist dialogue” observing the properties and liveliness of stone. It seems to be an expedition, a performance about expertise of some sort. Heated stone sculpture’s serve as skeletons for other material layers or useful cooking surfaces. Emma Jääskeläinen is the third artist in the series of the Kiasma Commission by Kordelin, her artwork “Proper Omelette” is a sculpture family whose parts spread out through Kiasma’s lobby and the 2nd-floor balcony. The work consists of two stone sculptures, a textile piece, and a bronze sculpture. Emma Jääskeläinen uses sculpture as her principal medium of expression but reinterprets it boldly, incorporating elements from everyday contexts into traditional stone sculpture. Her commentary on the history is liked amused poking, dialogue, flirting. A piece of marble sculpture rests on a yoga mat, and a sofa serves as a pedestal; a baseball cap, chewing gum, earplugs, or dried fruit can serve as material for sculpture just as well as stone. Emma Jääskeläinen’s choice of materials is guided by strong mental impressions. The machine blade sinks into travertine like into cheese, and rose marble is reminiscent of fatty sausage. She finds herself getting excited about unpredicted outcomes and playfulness of materials. Embodiedness of the practice is a central part of her work. Often, Jääskeläinen’s work depict body parts, fingers, hands, buttocks, sometimes comical, distorted and out of proportion. Parts of the commissioned artwork refer to an aging body, a body weary from childbirth, fingers worn from playing an instrument, or limbs tired from sculpting. The commissioned work titled “Proper Omelette” comprises of stone, bronze, and textile elements. The works are deeply founded in the her personal memories, including her grandmother’s collection of potholders and the calloused fingers of her guitar-playing brother. Emma Jääskeläinen uses sculpture as her principal medium of expression but reinterprets it boldly, incorporating elements from everyday contexts into traditional stone sculpture. Her commentary on the history is liked amused poking, dialogue, flirting. A piece of marble sculpture rests on a yoga mat, and a sofa serves as a pedestal; a baseball cap, chewing gum, earplugs, or dried fruit can serve as material for sculpture just as well as stone. Emma Jääskeläinen’s choice of materials is guided by strong mental impressions. The machine blade sinks into travertine like into cheese, and rose marble is reminiscent of fatty sausage. She finds herself getting excited about unpredicted outcomes and playfulness of materials. Embodiedness of the practice is a central part of her work. Often, Jääskeläinen’s work depict body parts, fingers, hands, buttocks, sometimes comical, distorted and out of proportion. Parts of the commissioned artwork refer to an aging body, a body weary from childbirth, fingers worn from playing an instrument, or limbs tired from sculpting.
Info: Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Mannerheiminaukio 2, Helsinki, Duration: 2/6-22/11/20,Days & Hours: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, https://kiasma.fi
