My current work is largely based on the tensions between different materials and their qualitative and historical meanings. I am fascinated by how the meanings conveyed by a certain object change when it is made from different materials. My works are typically based on a series of objects that may be formally very different, but which are thematically connected and include a play on the value judgments attached to the different materials. Irrespective of the object, cast iron will tell you a different story than cast bronze.
In addition to the material, it is also important how each object has been handled. For instance, if I work with stone, have I respected its characteristic features and listened to it, or have I worked from my own perspective and even forced the material into shape?
My work in the Kuvan Kevät exhibition tells a story from zero to zero in the language of wood, stone, steel and aluminium as well as their metamorphoses. The story is not an exact historical account, nor is it a post-apocalyptic vision. It is about time and being human, with facts sculpted with fiction like a block of granite is sculpted with a chisel or steel with fire.
mikkotapio80@gmail.com