Leena Nio 'Imagination'    Aug 17 - Sep 9, 2012

In her exhibition entitled Imagination, Leena Nio (born 1982) relies on her intuition. The artist has been inspired by imagination and the images born in the subconscious. Nio paints the images of Imagination in her original painting style: her precise technique with its systematicality and spontaneity combine to create the surface and depth of the painting.

In the new oil paintings, feelings of alienation and identification are approached through everyday topics and experientially. The viewer’s movement becomes a part of the work, as the paintings’ structure and materiality change when the viewer moves. A closer view emphasizes the physicality of the paint: a thick coat of paint and the grooves left by the brush achieve an abstract and ornamental impression. When viewed from a farther perspective, the overlapping images become more specific. Distance gives the opportunity to see within the picture, while physical proximity weakens the ability to perceive the image. The works and the world they create are a new kind of visual and spatial entity.