Bridging Cultures: 'Together: Poetic Asian Hands' Unveils Fusion of Artistry
The moment we live in now requires empathy, and art and culture are great mediums for conveying sensory and visual emotional expressions from different places on the same planet. The exhibition, "Together: Poetic Asian Hand," features captivating works of 11 talented Asian artists spanning jewelry, textile art, paper art, and music. These works blend harmoniously to create an Asian-inspired oasis within a Nordic backdrop, all under the same roof.
The craft culture in Finland has been vividly connected with the outside world in the past. For example, the ceramic company Arabia sent designer Friedl Holzer-Kjellberg to learn Chinese porcelain methods in the town of Jingde Zheng. Finnish artists and designers such as Helene Schjerfbeck, Albert Edelfelt, Rut Bruk, Heidi Blomstedt, and many others were very popular in Japan. Many Finnish designers went to Japan to gain inspiration for their work.
For the theme of this exhibition, we have been inspired by how Finland, in the past, connected with the international art scene. The Artek gallery, in its day, held various exhibitions connected to Asia: Japan in 1958, India, Nepal, and Thailand in 1970, and the Chinese Market in 1975 and 1981.
In this exhibition, we create a story that weaves tradition together with the contemporary. We also want to explore different techniques using the same material to create tension and cultural impact. For example, Finland is famous for creating everyday life design objects. If we think of enamel, we can recall Kaj Franck’s enamel bowl manufacturing by Arabia. In Asia, enamel is a material used in decorative art objects like cloisonné enamel. In this exhibition, you can see Taiwanese artist Kuo I-Hsuan masterfully incorporating natural landscapes into her pieces through the use of delicate enamel.
Due to artists' talent and emotion, each artist chooses materials that correspond to things and themselves, expressing their own philosophy through techniques and aesthetics. Before participating in an international art exhibition, Finnish abstract art pioneer Ahti Lavonen remarked, "I have found that the essence of what Finland can offer to the world is a sense of emptiness."
At Gallery Gao Shan, we aim to recreate this unique Finnish experience by transforming our space to resemble a classic Finnish home. In this exhibition, we showcase the rich craftsmanship of foreign artists, highlighting their skillful artistry and the magic of their handiwork. - Curator Ding Yi
