Finnish artist holds first exhibition in Việt Nam

Finnish artist Jaakko Niemela's exhibition takes place at APD Centre for Art Patronage and Development. Photo coutersy of APD Centre

HÀ NỘI Artist Jaakko Niemelä from Finland is holding his first exhibition in Việt Nam, with an installation of video animations and drawings on the subject of physical and emotional breakdown at the APD Centre in Hà Nội.

The exhibition 'Models of Disintegration' is made up of works from the artist's Black Motor installation and videos on nostalgia and departure. The central theme is the breakdown of structures and on an emotional level, longing and loss.

Niemelä made his first work related to this theme in 2002. On a personal level, his art deals with sadness, abandonment and longing due to loss. It can be seen as a series of snapshots of the current state of the world, with wars, the polarisation of cultures, and climate change destroying the old and reshaping our awareness.

"I have lost several relatives and acquaintances," the artist said. "The experiences of loss and grief have felt like an internal disintegration."

Decomposition is a universal process that takes place on different scales around the world, in Việt Nam as well as in Finland. It is an irreversible change caused by humans or the passage of time. Disintegration is necessary for development. It is both a destructive and a transformative force that creates space for the construction of the new.

Born in Finland, Niemelä lives and works in Helsinki and Rauma. He has been exhibiting internationally for decades. Addressing a variety of themes, his works have their roots in the artist’s personal experiences yet succeed in expressing universal conditions and meanings; childhood, play, control and surveillance, societal pressures and the fear of loss.

Underlying destruction, catastrophe and transience are central topics in his art. His installation and public artworks are dramatised through lighting, strong shadows, video animations, harsh or mirrored surfaces and heavy, raw industrial materials.

Niemelä also plays with the drama of scale, working with both small-sized models to multiple-metre-high scaffoldings, or building-like constructions. Typically his works embrace and dominate their environment, but can equally be as subtle as the words of a poem projected onto the surface of a pond.

The 'Models of Disintegration' exhibition runs from 11am to 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday until December 7 at the APD Centre for Art Patronage and Development at 1 Lương Yên Street in Hà Nội's Hai Bà Trưng District. VNS