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As a child, Finnish born artist Minna Pyyhkala immigrated
to the United States. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and later
moved to New York City. At the age of 23, she returned to Europe for
good and currently resides in Prague.
Pyyhkälä's new series “The Split Up” will be her
first solo show in her native country. In the series the artist uses
mostly diptych's - split images. The theme explores what happens during
a split up; be it a split in a relationship, a split in thinking or
disassociation from places one has lived.
Pyyhkälä's photography is naturally theatrical and presents
passing moments or seemingly insignificant objects as profound symbols,
while simultaneously maintaining an essential and striking abstract
function. This is often accentuated by linking images in diptych or
triptych to create provocative colour, texture or linear relationships
in juxtaposition with loaded iconography.
The images seem to emanate directly from the unconscious, they are silent
and chilling in their simple depiction of unrest.
The combination of images seemingly captured by chance with subtly staged
events is characteristic of Pyyhkälä's work and oddly persuasive.
It forces a kind of seeing which removes an image from its context and
promotes its inherent textural and atmospheric qualities, presenting
living itself as a stream of constant stimuli and meanings. There is
a fluidity and a connectedness across the works which draws the viewer
through a succession of different states of consciousness.
During a split up, one's perception intensifies to the point that it
no longer seems as if one is interpreting or processing his or her surroundings.
It is as if the world is telling you about the situation you are in,
rather than the opposite. In Pyyhkälä's images everyday sights
are juxtaposed in startling ways, and the titles reveal the associative
chain through which they form a narrative. They are images of a split
up, the end of one thing and the beginning of something new.
In December of 2004, Pyyhkälä was accepted by the Arts Council
of North Karelia to a residency program. The resulting work, a series
entitled “The Snow Beds” were exhibited at Gallery Ahjo in
Joensuu, Finland in February this year. Recent exhibitions she has had
include “Balance Sheet” (4.04 - Prague); Dream Girls (7.04
- Prague), 2 1/2 Hours (3.04), Group shows including “Foreign”,
“Animals”, “Eros” all in 2004. In 2005 Minna will
exhibit her solo series “HI DIE” at the House of Photography
in Slovakia and “In Love?” series at the International Festival
of Photography in Lodz, Poland.
Minna teaches very popular and successful art photography workshops.
The workshop tends to be less technical but more conceptual and “theme
and concept” oriented. Her latest workshop, “Dream Girls”
was selected to be shown at Kyoto Art Center in Japan in February 2006
and will be shown on the island of in Kita-Kyushu City in March 2006.
Pyyhkälä will also hold art photo workshops in Japan as well
as lecture on her photographic work.
More information: www.moimin.com
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Minna Pyyhkälä's exhibition The Split Up is part of the Summer
Light City -project.
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