KARI HUHTAMO ART FOUNDATION

SUOMI

ARTIST CATARINA RYöPPY

Artist Catarina Ryöppy.
Catarina Ryöppy (photographer Santtu Särkkä)

Catarina Ryöppy studied painting and sculpture in Switzerland but has now for many years concentrated on installation art using photographs and videos.

"Time unknown" Photo Catarina Ryöppy.
Time unknown. Photo Catarina Ryöppy.

Ryöppy's works have exhibited widely both in Finland and abroad. Her works are included in many significant museum, company and city collections. She is a recipient of numerous awards and grants including the State Art Award 2010 and Pro Finlandia medal in 2011. She has also taught drawing and painting e.g. in the Helsinki School of Art and Design.

Time, Limits, Relatio Artis -seminar 26.05.2011

In her speech Time, Limits Catarina Ryöppy focused on the essence of time and cultural borders through her works. She explored the process of interpreting the perceived strangeness in others and what it results to. Why is it, that otherness is rendered different, inferior, unacceptable, despicable, scary and threatening? Where does the need to draw borders stem from and how do we overcome these self-constructed obstacles between us and the world? And how to deal with the ultimate strangeness that is within ourselves? Will the recognition of our fears and insecurities result in better understanding of others?

"Waiting for" Photo Catarina Ryöppy.
Waiting for. Photo Catarina Ryöppy.

To quote Georges Perec in Species of Spaces and Other Pieces, "Borders are only lines, but millions of people have died for these lines and thousands have died because they have not succeeded in crossing them."

Ryöppy’s works deal with the presence of absence, the perishability of life, the arresting of time and death. In her works nothing really happens and yet, to quote John Cage, "Even if nothing happens, something always happens." Our thoughts evolve and shape us - even unconsciously.


Katariina Lipsanen


Relatio Artis page
Kalevi Aho
Reija Hirvikoski
Juhani Pallasmaa
Catarina Ryöppy
Jussi Tiainen
Timo Valjakka