Päivi Takala

Vanitas Series (Top 53), 2011
oil on canvas
35 x 57 cm

During her career PÄIVI TAKALA (b. 1970) has explored the disintegration and modification of paintings over a long period. She has painted illusions of disintegrating images on canvas and then perforated the paintings with three-dimensional objects. In her latest pieces she has focuses on the gesture of repair. Repairing is a way to study the material nature of the painting and it opens up opportunities to consider in broader perspective the meanings of fixing and patching things.

Sleeve II, 2018
oil on MDF
150 x 120 cm

Between 2, 2008-09
oil on canvas
130 x 180 cm

Renovation (stripes), 2018
oil colour and plaster on MDF
150 x 121,5 cm

Renovation
4 Oct – 28 Oct 2018
exhibition view at Galerie Anhava

Renovation (blue_and_yellow), 2018
oil colour and plaster on MDF, paint on metal
part I: 149 x 132,5 cm
part II: 36,2 x 66 x 66,5 cm

Renovation (back), 2018
oil colour and plaster on MDF
128 x 98,9 cm

Vanitas Series (Tatlin on white), 2011
oil on canvas
250 x 200 cm

Vanitas Series (Portrait), 2011
oil on canvas
75 x 65 cm

Twice Painted, 2009
oil on canvas
210 x 320 cm

Paper on Painting
5 Feb – 1 Mar 2015
exhibition view at Galerie Anhava

Grid on Canvas, 2014
oil on canvas
120 x 100 cm

Vanitas Series (Cross 1), 2012
oil on canvas
35 x 35 cm

textsCVexhibitions

Exhibitions

Texts

During her career PÄIVI TAKALA (b. 1970) has explored the disintegration and modification of paintings over a long period. She has painted illusions of disintegrating images on canvas and then perforated the paintings with three-dimensional objects. In her latest pieces she has focuses on the gesture of repair. Repairing is a way to study the material nature of the painting and it opens up opportunities to consider in broader perspective the meanings of fixing and patching things. Life can be considered an ongoing struggle with wear, destruction and faults, and the repairs that are to them.

The process of repairing the works in this exhibition is carefully planned and controlled. The paintings did not happen to just undergo damage and then require repairs. The work has been dusty but almost surgical. Takala sawed works in two that she had painted in oils on MDF sheeting and then joined the pieces carefully with filling plaster, but without effacing the marks of repair. She also made holes in the paintings and then repaired them completely with filler. The pieces that were left over were simply moved from the wall and placed horizontally on the floor as continuations of the paintings. By working on her paintings with saws and filling plaster, Takala challenges our notions of the fragility and inviolability of artworks.

The marks of breaking and repair bring the artist and the activity dimension of the painting close to the viewer. Sawing is a gesture that is comparable to the movements of a brush. This process underscores the physical nature of painting and the artist’s physical presence before her works. It also gives visibility to the simultaneousness of the painted motif and the artefactual nature of the painting.

CV

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PÄIVI TAKALA

Born 1970 in Lehtimäki, Finland
Lives and works in Helsinki

EDUCATION
1994–1998 Hochschule der Künste, Berlin
Freie Kunst, Malerei
Meisterschülerin
1990–1996 University of Art and Design Helsinki
Department of Art Education
Masters of Arts
1989–1990 University of Helsinki, Department of Art History

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2018
    • Renovation, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2015
    • Paper on Painting, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2013
    • Torso, Turku Art Museum, Studio, Turku
    • Smoke on paper, Galleri Lars Olsen, Copenhagen
  • 2012
    • Vanitas Series, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Memento (with David Kroell), Gallery Bourouina, Berlin
  • 2010
    • Lume, Taidesalonki Husa, Tampere
  • 2009
    • Background, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Window Seat, Gallery Bourouina, Berlin
  • 2008
    • Outside, Gallery Thomas Wallner, Malmö
  • 2006
    • Grip, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2005
    • Gallery Bakeliittibambi, Helsinki
  • 2002
    • tm-galleria, Helsinki
  • 2001
    • Gallery Bakeliittibambi, Helsinki
  • 2000
    • Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi
  • 1999
    • Gallery Bakeliittibambi, Helsinki
  • 1998
    • Gallery of the Helsinki Fine Arts Academy, Helsinki

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2017
    • With Seven-league Boots. Stop – Finland: Works from the Kiasma Collection, Art Museum Riga Bourse, Riga
    • 8thTurku Biennial, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova, Turku
    • Constellations, Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki
  • 2015
    • Touch, Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection Exhibition, EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art
  • 2014
    • Polyfonia II, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris
  • 2013
    • Events in Nature, Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, EMMA Espoo                     Museum of Modern Art
    • Polyfonia, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris
    • Seitsemäs aalto, Wihuri Foundation Art Collection, Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma
  • 2012
    • Seitsemäs aalto, Wihuri Foundation Art Collection, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Silent wishes, Gallery Oksasenkatu, Helsinki
    • 2010 New Impressions, Gallery Bourouina, Berlin
  • 2008
    • The Real Thing, Malmö Konstmuseum, Malmö
    • Third Beijing Biennale, Peking
    • What´s up, Gallery Bourouina, Berlin
    • Simple Mind, Fiskars
  • 2007
    • Gallery Forum Box, Helsinki
    • group: Näsänen, Euro, Takala
    • Unbelievable, But True. New works from collections, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki
  • 2006
    • Artist and Spectator, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • Purnu Summer, Orivesi
    • Järvenpää City Art Museum, Järvenpää
  • 1999
    • “by side, sidewalk”, Vaasa

 

ARTWORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Helsinki Art Museum
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art
Malmö Konstmuseum
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, Espoo
EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
Lars Swaljung Collection, Helsinki
Vexi Salmi Collection, Hämeenlinna Art Museum
The Finnish State Art Collection
Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection, Rovaniemi Art Museum
Nelimarkka Museum, Alajärvi
Paulo Foundation, Helsinki
Pohjola, Helsinki
Private collections in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Switzerland

AWARDS
2009               William Thuring Award, Fine Arts Association of Finland

PUBLICATIONS
The 7th Wave –Wihuri and Visual Art, 2012
Oskari Tolonen: Maalauksia kuvista ja kuvattomuudesta, Mustekala 2012
Void: Päivi Takala, Parvs Publishing, 2011
Veli-Matti Saarinen, Background, Mustekala 11/2009
Simple Life, Fiskars, 2008
Tarja Pitkänen-Walter, Päivänselviä Ilmestyksiä, Taide 1/2007
Pilvi Kalhama, On the Borderlines of the Void, “Grip”, Galerie Anhava 2006