EMERGING 2021:
Emma Jääskeläinen, Emma Luukkala, Olle Norås, Joel Slotte

Details: Emma Jääskeläinen, Night Studio, 2021 | Joel Slotte, Kissankellot oikoreitillä, 2021 | Emma Luukkala, Pieniä tärkeitä II, 2021. Photos: Jussi Tiainen | Olle Norås, arms turn wood, body stone, 2020. Photo: Petter Cohen

Galerie Anhava’s new exhibition, EMERGING 2021, showcases the works of invited young artists. The EMERGING series has already become something of a tradition, and this year’s exhibition continues the line of exhibitions organised in 2011, 2013, and 2018. EMERGING 2021 introduces paintings and sculptures produced by three visual artists from Finland and one from Sweden.

Emma Jääskeläinen (b. 1988) works with stone in its own terms, focusing on its surface patterns, for example. The works are inspired by the human body, touch, sensitivity, and caring. When working on new projects, Jääskeläinen looks for impulses that arise from within the material. Analogously to the working process, which leaves traces on the surface of the sculpture, Jääskeläinen has contemplated on the traces that she has left behind, her personal history. The soft Finnsheep wool in Jääskeläinen’s works reacts to the touch, and the hard stone requires a meticulous and precise approach to working with the material. Jääskeläinen’s sculptures are references to human activities, such as holding an object or looking at something.

Emma Jääskeläinen graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. Her works have been included in the following exhibitions: Kiasma Commission by Kordelin Award Exhibition (2020), In Praise of Boredom, Rauma Triennale (2019), Tizzicato, Gallery Vanha Raatihuone, Turku (2018), and Sad Basket, HAM Gallery, Helsinki (2017).

Emma Luukkala (b. 1992) draws the motifs for her paintings from everyday life. The textile patterns in her paintings are distinctive. The checkered pieces of fabric represent imagery from ordinary life, which creates a sense of security. Luukkala examines the home environment, fixating on details which she transfers into her paintings. Recently, she has explored her box of memories and used the material she has discovered as the basis for new works. The paintings have been named according to the days of the week. They point to observations, accentuating the meanings associated with them. Items that have been left lying on the table, a pen, a comb, a notebook, an eraser, keys, a receipt, and a rubber band, emphasise the importance of small size. We may not always pay attention to the details around us, but they guide us through failure and success.

Emma Luukkala graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. In recent years, Luukkala’s works have been presented in the following exhibitions, for instance: Kuvan Kevät, Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki (2020), Ripples, Marcy, Helsinki (2019), and We’re Not the First to Live Here, Brinkhall Manor, Turku (2019).

Olle Norås (b. 1982) creates various kinds of sound effects during his working process. You can almost hear these faint sounds echo in your ear when you examine Norås’s gouache paintings. A single, extensive painted shape is filled with details. They radiate life: fire. The mind starts to wander into volcanic terrain. The scenery in Norås’s paintings shows the cross-section of the terrain. What the naked eye cannot see will remain hidden in the ground. Norås controls the details of his paintings with delicate sensitivity, and he treats the theme of his works, nature, with great respect.

Olle Norås is a visual artist who lives and works in Stockholm. His most recent exhibitions include: solo exhibition Bland dessa uråldriga spiror, Eva Livijn, Stockholm (2020), Grant Exhibition of the Maria Bonnier Dahlin Foundation, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2018), group exhibition The Trees, Light Green: Landscape painting – past and present, Bonniers Konsthall (2020), and The Gathering, Dalarnas museum, Falun (2018).

Joel Slotte’s (b. 1987) new paintings present us with scenes of summer and winter. Slotte examines, for instance, the sensation that a specific action produces on the skin in a given season. The paintings provide clues to the viewer. A knight’s squire has failed to get off the lawn in a lapse of concentration. The UFO printed on his T-shirt points to the sense of being an outsider, and the tattooed snake on his arm is a symbol of renewal. In the background of the painting, we can see summer in its full glory, but the overall tone of the work remains still. Slotte has long been interested in plant lore and plants, such as the bittersweet nightshade, which was used as protection from witchcraft, and the hellebore, which was used to ward off mental disorder. These themes play an important role in the paintings. The works deliberately look for a balance between what is possible and what is not.

Joel Slotte graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2016. Since his graduation, Slotte has participated in several exhibitions, such as: Tonttuyö – Goblin Night, Galleria Live, Helsinki (2020), Trubaduuri ja pohjanlepakko (‘Troubadour and the Northern Bat’), Galleria Artista, Kokkola (2020), Lumpunkerääjä (‘Rag Collector’), tm•gallery, Helsinki (2019), Kootut salaisuudet (‘Collected Secrets’), Galleri Elverket, Tammisaari (2020), and group exhibition Vastahankaan (‘Disinclination’), Nastola Town Hall (2020). Joel Slotte was named as the Young Artist of the Year 2021.

– Ulla-Maija Pitkänen

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Emma Luukkala
Small, Dear Things II, 2021
oil on canvas
48 x 40 cm

Joel Slotte
Perhoskerääjä ja punakoiso, 2021
oil on canvas
55 x 50 cm

Emma Jääskeläinen
Night Studio (detail), 2021
hermelin marble, travertine, Finnish sheep wool
95 cm x 50 cm x 75 cm

Olle Norås
We can stay here for a while, if you like (Detail), 2021
gouache on paper
152 x 102 cm

Installation view

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Installation view

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Installation view

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Installation view

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Emma Jääskeläinen
Roll, 2021
Finnish sheep wool
20 x 20 x 13 cm

Joel Slotte
Kissankellot oikoreitillä, 2021
oil on canvas
160 x 120 cm

Emma Luukkala
Small, Dear Things V, 2021
oil on canvas
71 x 65 cm

Olle Norås
Celestial movements and giant space, 2021
gouache on paper
152 x 46 x 2 cm

Joel Slotte
Guard Shift, 2021
oil on canvas
60 x 54 cm

Emma Jääskeläinen
Night Studio, 2021
Hermelin marble, Noce travertine, Finnsheep wool
80 x 95 x 60 cm

EMERGING 2021
Installation view
Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Emma Luukkala
Letka, 2021
found objects
size variable

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Olle Norås
Arms turn wood, body stone, 2020
gouache on paper
105 x 78 cm

Joel Slotte
Knight’s Squire, 2020
oil on canvas
160 x 140 cm