Marianna Uutinen had her artistic breakthrough already with her first solo show in Helsinki, in 1989. She created headlines by showing paintings of women's underwear in the rooms dedicated to art. She questioned and confronted. By doing so she added fuel to the fire lit by Marcel Duchamp already in the beginning of the century. But Marianna Uutinen's intention has never been to provoke. It is the expression of colour and form that interests her.
Marianna Uutinen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts during a time when the expressive painting was ranked highly in Finland. After graduating from the academy she examined her relation to painting and she questioned the motifs and the expression as driving forces behind her works. At first she painted by squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas. The result was a form of painted drawings. Later the canvases were generously filled with plastic and layers of acrylic that were allowed to float around on the surface, and accordingly the border faded between painting and sculptural installation.
The new works are characterised by an expressive temperance. The strong and evocative colours of the paintings vibrate under the surface. The paint is allowed to interact solely with the canvas, which forms a concentrated painterly expression.
Marianna Uutinen was born in 1961 in Pieksmäki in Finland. She lives and works in Helsinki. She received her artistic education in 1980-85 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Finland and in 1991-92 at Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques in Paris. In 1997 Marianna Uutinen represented Finland in the Venice Biennale. She has had several solo shows, including, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki; Galleria Figure, Turin, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik; Galleri Wang, Oslo and Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund. Group shows include, among others, Turku Art Museum, Turku; Kunsthalle Wien,Vienna; Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm; Kiasma, Helsinki, Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art, Moss; Museo Fichetti, Francavilla al Mare; Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense.
Marianna Uutinen studied at the Academy of Fine Arts during a time when the expressive painting was ranked highly in Finland. After graduating from the academy she examined her relation to painting and she questioned the motifs and the expression as driving forces behind her works. At first she painted by squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas. The result was a form of painted drawings. Later the canvases were generously filled with plastic and layers of acrylic that were allowed to float around on the surface, and accordingly the border faded between painting and sculptural installation.
The new works are characterised by an expressive temperance. The strong and evocative colours of the paintings vibrate under the surface. The paint is allowed to interact solely with the canvas, which forms a concentrated painterly expression.
Marianna Uutinen was born in 1961 in Pieksmäki in Finland. She lives and works in Helsinki. She received her artistic education in 1980-85 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Finland and in 1991-92 at Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques in Paris. In 1997 Marianna Uutinen represented Finland in the Venice Biennale. She has had several solo shows, including, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki; Galleria Figure, Turin, Living Art Museum, Reykjavik; Galleri Wang, Oslo and Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund. Group shows include, among others, Turku Art Museum, Turku; Kunsthalle Wien,Vienna; Gävle Konstcentrum, Gävle; Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm; Kiasma, Helsinki, Nordic Festival of Contemporary Art, Moss; Museo Fichetti, Francavilla al Mare; Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense.