02.04.2016 – 15.04.2016 | Monday to Saturday, 12.00 – 18.00 | Trükimuusem | Kastani 42, Tartu
A closure event will be held 14.04.2016 at 18.00 at the gallery of the Printing Museum (Trükimuuseum). Tiina-Maria Aalto will be present and will happily discuss her work and residency in Tartu.
“Another Skin” presents a series of works which Finnish artist Tiina-Maria Aalto has created before, during and after her residency in Tartu in November 2015.
During Aalto’s three week residency in Tampere Maja, Tartu, she continued her project “THE MANNEQUINS”: a series painted in aquarelle watercolors about the human likeness of mannequin dolls. Since 2012 Aalto has explored the realities presented by shop windows around Europe and the humanlike nature of mannequins – an inconspicuous part of the vibrant, everyday city landscapes. The exhibition ‘Another Skin’ asks, “what do these views tell about us and the state of western society?”
The personification of the figures in Aalto’s paintings are an illusion, underlined by the painting technique, as a mannequin doll takes the form of a human being, even though it is always inanimate. Parts of the series have been presented earlier in 2015 at the group exhibition Class Reunion in Turku and in Aalto’s private show Kuori (Eng. Skin) in Galeria Saima, Helsinki. ‘Another Skin’ in Tartu Trükimuuseum contains parts of the series with additional new works inspired by Aalto’s travels in Estonia and working as an artist in residence in Tartu in November 2015.
Tiina-Maria Aalto graduated from the Turku University of Applied Sciences – Arts Academy, with the degree work “Persona, Impression & Reflection” about contemporary portrait art in 2012. Her undergraduate studies included an exchange period in the École supérieure d’Art de Grenoble in France, which was followed by a gap year spent in the United Kingdom, Birmingham.
Her works have been exhibited in France and Finland (e.g. Gallery Saima, Gallery Titanik, The Finnish Museum of Photography). A series of her drawings were also part of Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller’s “24 Hour Rockshow” in IHME Contemporary Art Festival 2015
The Mannequins will be presented next time as a part of Aalto’s upcoming solo show in Rovaniemi (Finland) in December 2016.
Tiina-Maria’s residency and exhibition have been made possible by the Tartu Artist in Residence programme. For several years, artists from around the world have had the chance to live and work in Tartu, find new sources of inspiration and present their latest works to the local community. Since 2012, almost 50 artists have used this opportunity.
More about Tiina-Maria Aalto: http://residency.tartuensis.com/?p=1660 and http://www.aaltotiinamaria.com