Anita Jensen Matrikkeliin
I have spent much of the past three years and the pandemic by taking stock of my work since 1985 – trying to get a sense of the things I have experienced, felt, done and thought while creating the kind of artworks I make. This has also led me to complete an “almost total inventory/purge of my studio” – and therefore of my mind as well.
Now that I have begun to see a little further back in my life, the perspectives and meanings in my work are becoming ever clearer to me.
And it also strengthens my determination to continue to look forward.
The exhibition now on show at MUJI Small Gallery is a kind of stopover or break for me.
While presenting a selection of works from the past few years, it also makes room for new possibilities that I’ve been considering and preparing for the future…
My heart and soul will continue to travel between Finland and Japan in the future as well.
My research and work trips will in the next couple of years take me to the island of Shikoku, the very place where my long and eventful journey with Japanese culture first began. I will be developing a series of exhibitions that have emerged on the island over a period of many years, to be presented in Finland and Japan. In Finland, I will continue to work at the Artist Village in Myllypuro.
My field studies of the heart and mind will therefore continue, and the secrets therein will continue to unfold.
SYDÄMEN KENTTÄTUTKIMUKSIA
FIELDWORK OF THE HEART
MUJI SMALL GALLERY 4:s kerros
Kauppakeskus KAMPPI
Urho Kekkosen katu 1. 00100 Helsinki
Kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli
https://kuvataiteilijamatrikkeli.fi/taiteilija/anita-jensen
The main focus in my exhibition are the large Emakimono-shaped paper rolls. Traces from films and manga can be seen in my art work, as there are similarity in storytelling. To present pictures with this kind of form will give one the opportunity to travel through time, to different places and spaces. Forward and backwards, just by opening and closing the roll one picture/moment at a time – as we do in our dreams and in our minds. One gets to glimpse to the past and future, right here and now.
The variations in deformation and the forms of Japanese beauty are strongly highlighted in my art works. The way I work includes a new perspective to the techniques, materials and the ways in which fine art is usually presented in photography and printmaking.
I combine Japanese aesthetics’ extremity, side by side – such as the beauty of fading flowers – which creates intented tension in my artistic expression. My art has interesting dimensions: it unites the Centuries old Japanise materials and visual heritage with the latest techniques and materials used by printmakers and photographers of today.
2019 is the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Japan and Finland. My exhibition is part of the centennial celebrations.
Anita Jensen