End of the exhibition

Today I dismounted the exhibition. I was at my friends birthday last friday and of course had a huge hangover on saturday and sunday. I've also sleept about 4 hours since saturday. Hangover makes me sleep deprived. So today morning I almost slept on the rental van's wheel (Is that correct english...is any of this?). Thank god for screaming girlfriends and the noise tracks on the sides of the roads.

I got positive feedback from people I know, but I didn't sell anything or get any press as far as I know. According to the gallerys guestbook, Roman Opalka had been in the exhibition but I think the guestbook signature is rather a student gag. Somebody also insisted that every painting named 'Nameless' should have a name. Once a student of art critics criticized my exhibition rather harshly on an online critique and also wrote :"Oh you meditating weirdos" in the guestbook. Nice. One thing more: some of the paintings had gone crooked in the gallerys humidity, as had many of the works on paper. Damn (I might be a bit of a perfectionist).

All in all, many people liked the show and it was a good place for an exhibition, but I'm still 1500€ in debt (written after two days of almost total sleep deprivation).

Purin tänään näyttelyn. Perjantaina olin kaverini synttäreillä. Sen jälkeen oli tietysti kahden päivän krapula, enkä öisin juurikaan nukkunut. En saa krapulassa unta. Aamulla meinasin nukahtaa pakettiauton rattiin, mutta onneksi teitten reunoilla on melu-urat jotka herättävät viattoman tuutian. Vieressä istuva kirkaiseva tyttöystäväkin auttaa. Sen jälkeen batterya ja 10 min. powersleep avaimet kädessä. Vieraskirjan mukaan Roman Opalka oli käynyt näyttelyssä, mutta luulenpa että se on opiskelijapila. Jouku oli kirjoittanut, että jokaisella "Nimetön" -teoksella tulisi olla nimi. Oli siinä perustelut, mutten saanut selvää... Erään kerran sain lyttäävän internet -näyttelykritiikin taidehistorian opiskelijalta. Hän myös kirjoitti vieraskirjaan :"Voi teitiä meditoivia huru-ukkoja". Kiva. Palaute tuntemiltani ihmisiltä oli positiivista. Näyttelystä vielä: muutamat taulut käyristyivät ja paperityöt kupruilivat gallerian ilmankosteuden takia. Perfektionistia harmittaa.

Kaiken kaikkiaan, monet ihmiset pitivät näyttelystä ja näyttelypaikka oli maineikas, mutta jään edelleen n. 1500€ miinukselle (kirjoitettu kahden yön unettomuuden jälkeen).

After the vernissage

Ohhh...still tired. There was a nice crowd at the vernissage, but what kind of last minute marathon the installation was! On wednesday I woke up at 4.40 a.m, went to pick up my rental van, drove to my studio, picked up some paintings, then drove to my framer and after picking up those works I headed towards Helsinki at ca. 7.30 a.m with my girlfriend. After some driving (trying to take an alternative route in the center of Helsinki and backing the van on a traffic sign. No marks on the car! Phew!!) I parked the van on the pedestrian way in front of the gallery at ca. 9.30 a.m (no parking or stopping allowed). We took the paintings to the gallery and towards Tampere we headed again to return the van. When I parked the van in the rental place I packed the car on a fence again. No marks on the bumper! No one knows this but us...shush! I left from Tampere to Helsinki on 15.07 p.m train and was at the gallery again at 5.45 p.m. In the train I noticed that the framer had forgotten to frame one of the bigger paintings. I Called the guy and he promised to deliver the painting the next day before 2 p.m. (he did, lucky for him). Got to installing the exhibition alone and after some grueling work I left to sleep after 9.30 p.m. On thursday I woke up at 8.00 and was at the gallery at 9 a.m, triggered the silent alarm (no cops rushed in, the gallerist just called) and continued installing until 4 p.m, when I went to have a shower and buy some things for the catering of the vernissage. That day I ate a breakfast composed of two cups of tea and four pieces of rye bread until at 6.30 p.m when I had a small pizza. I arrived 15 minutes late to my own exhibition.

I had my girlfriend, a curator (amanuenssi) and a museum assistant from the Helsinki Art Museum to help me with the vernissage and installation on thursday after noon. I installed the paintins mostly alone on thick concrete walls. Video artists think it's easy to install an exhibition of paintings but if you have to drill holes to stone wall's and hang the paintings alone, they are mistaken. At some point we noticed that the gallery had ran out of wall paint and filler and it took some time to get a new supply. The spotlights of the gallery were pritty useles too, but my paintings seemed to work in those lighting conditions anyways. Momentarily the installation seemed to be doomed but we pulled out. Thank you everyone! After my vernissage we went to another vernissage close by and continued to Corona bar for some drinks. Me and my girlfriend left after midnight. On friday I woke up at 5.50 a.m and took the 6.30 train to Tampere to go to work at Tampere Art Museum. I was bit dizzy during that day. All in all...Phew!

Sanotaan Suomeksi että oli vähän rankka ripustus. Väsyttää vieläkin.

A very pleased artist

I had an interview published in our art magazine 'Taide' (Art)(that's the local Artforum), along with two pictures of my paintings one being on the back cover with a quote from my interview. Yesterday I had my first day of work in Tampere Art Museum. So, everything seems to go smoothly now. Can't complain. Here's my invitation to the Kluuvi exhibition. Vernissage is on 11.11.2010 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Haastatteluni julkaistiin Taide -lehdessä kahden teoskuvan kera. Toinen kuva oli lehden takakannessa haastattelulainauksen kanssa. Eilen oli ensimmäinen työpäiväni Tampereen taidemuseolla. Kaikki menee nyt myötäisesti, joten ei voi valittaa. Tässä kutsuni Kluuvin näyttelyyn. Avajaiset ovat 11.11.2010 klo 17-19.