West Town

love, always

Reykjavik

still thinking of Summer...

Susanna Majuri at Galleria Heino Helsinki

Susanna Majuri
1.9.2012 - 23.9.2012 

Galleria HeinoUudenmaankatu 16-20
FI 00120 Helsinki
Finland
+358(0)9672678

Fine art photographer Susanna Majuri (b. 1978) is known for magical images, where water is often a key element. Another recurrent theme in her works is the north both as a landscape and as a state of mind. Among other qualifications, Majuri graduated in 2007 with a Master of Arts from the University of Art and Design Helsinki, majoring in photography. She is a member of the internationally active Helsinki School artist group. Majuri´s works have been exhibited in numerous international joint and group exhibitions since 2005. She has had private exhibitions in, among other locations, the Finnish Museum of Photography (2010), the Museum of Photography in Charleroi, Belgium (2011) and the Sogn and Fjordane Museum of Fine Arts in Norway (2011). Her works are on display in several major public and private collections, both in Finland and abroad.



Last week I was lucky to be invited to the opening night of Susanna Majuri's exhibition at Galleria Heino in Helsinki. I was truly mesmerized by her work. And I could devote a whole lot of words to the depictions, but to be honest these photographs speak for themselves. I think Susanna's work is quintessential nordic and considering her being a major player in the Helsinki School the work also reminds me of Eija Liisa Ahtila, a fellow Fin on whom I have had a crush for over a decade. So should you be anywhere near Helsinki the coming month go and see this show! 

all images copyright Susanna Majuri

I am the strange hero of hunger - a poem by Billy Childish

my girlfriend lives
on the other side of the world
and
has
started
reading
crime and punishment
by fydor dostoyevski

do you recognise the main characicter?
i ask her excitedly
- doesn't he remind you of me?

-ive only just begun
she ansewers
whats his name?

-rodya
but all the characters
have about 3 different names
i always get confused
and
cant tell who is who
because im dislexic and don't make sounds for the names
but rodya is for short
and
his sister is called dunya
isn't dunya a butiful name?
if little huddie had been born a girl
we would of named her
Dunya
when I talk of the buti
of girls names
or the strange bravery
of artists
or see
the lite change
over sea
and sky
every second impossible showers of
gold
turning to terrible hues of purple
and
black
and
my
hart rate quickens
because
i am amongst
my
own
people

i am
the hero of all my favourite novels
i live in them
and they
live in me
i am Arturo bandini
on angels flight
swearing at a butiful dark haired girl
in tattered shoes
i am rodya
guilty of a terrible and senceless murder
on the streets of st peterersburg
i am the strange hero of hunger
starving to spite myself in christiana
i am johan nagel
tormentor of the midget
and suiside
i am ishmail
knocker off of tall hats
i am every novelist
and
every character ever dreamed
i am everyone of my favorite artists
and
i feel myself not one jot less
but equell to all of them
Turner
Munch
Holbine
and
Hokusi

naturally I have no heros
i am my heros
i am my brothers
and sisters
i feel myself joined by the soul
with all buti
my hart sings with every brave endevor
with the strange wings of impossible butterflys
with every rock that breaths life into the world

i stand shoulder to shoulder with
all denouncers of meaness
i honour spirit and faith
and I uphold the glorious amiture
i am in love with desperate men
with desperate hands
walking in 2nd hand shoes
serching for god
and
hearing god
and hating god
i am a desperate man buckled with fear
i am a desperate man who demands to be listend to
who demands to connect
i am a desperate man who denounces the dullness of
money
and status
i am a desperate man will not bow down to acolayed or
success
i am a desperate man who loves the simplicity of painting
and hates gallarys and white walls and the dealers in art
who loves unreasonableness
and hot headedness
who loves contradiction
hates publishing houses
and
also I am Vincent van gogh
hiroshige
and every living breathing artist
who dares to draw god
on this planet

-----------------------------------------------------

last week I attended the opening of a lovely exhibition in Helsinki (more about that later) during the dinner afterwards in good company of some Fins and Icelanders I was informed about this poem by Billy Childish referencing 'Me'. 

I felt it was very appropriate to publish it here. 

Thank you Gunnar.

Lola Bikes & Coffee

Today I met Lola, I had been eyeing on her for a while; driving my still shitty bike past the storefront excited to see what was going to happen inside. The Lola-crew is still test-driving and will have an semi-official opening still ahead. For now the coffee taste good, the sweets were sweet, the bikes look great. I managed to snap up 2 coffee but had no chance to take a bike home unfortunately..  I'm sure in no time Lola will be a full-packed hangout. I wanted to speak to the (superfriendly) owner today about this project but he was already too busy with pumping tires, fixing bikes and fixing coffees. I will be back though.

website still under construction but lots of info on facebook 

Days of Gray

Magazin

A lot of nice new products in Magazin, online and instore

Thoughts of Light

Knitted Lamps by Eliska Cnossen part of Exhibition Textile Treasures and for sale in Blaak 10 Gallery

Transience

Lex Pott & David Derksen 

Tuttobene Milan 2012

The New Glint of Things

Over time, dark spots start to appear on mirrors. The silver layer is slowly oxidizing under the influence of oxygen and water, thereby showing some of its history. This process can be regarded as degradation, however this project shows the beauty of this material transition of silver. 

Normally, the oxidation process in a mirror occurs randomly and evolves slowly over time. These mirrors reveal the different states of this process. In this case, sulphur is used to create an accelerated oxidation process. Depending on the time that the silver is reacting with sulphur, different colour tones can be achieved, ranging from gold to brown, to purple to blue. The states of the oxidation process are being shown in a pattern that consists of the elemental geometric shapes.

Acid Modernism .. Doug Aitken's House

One of my favorite artists lives in a house that encompasses only things I love... There is an interview as well in New York Times