Matti Kujasalo (born in Helsinki in 1946) has addressed issues of systematic constructivist art for the past forty years. He has developed a unique grammar of his own, and, based on its rules, he has created a visual language that is expressive, nuanced and imbued with surprise.
Read MoreMatti Kujasalo's paintings are pure, fresh and cool. They contain endless things to see and one never tires of them. His works also have a special lyrical tone and character that are rarely associated with constructivist art. They are also intellectually fascinating and challenging, and visually enjoyable. The structures, logic and internal development of Matti Kujasalo's earlier works are mostly easy to read and comprehend, while his later paintings are structurally more complex, and the viewer has to give up, reject "understanding" and accept the inexplicably of sensory pleasure, its mystery.
In recent years, Matti Kujasalo has held solo exhibitions in Zürich (Galerie Timo Niemayer) and Ossenheim (Galerie Hoffmann), and his works have been on show at many art fairs (Art Basel, Art Forum Berlin, FIAC, Art Hong Kong and Art Basel Miami Beach). He has also participated in joint exhibitions both in Finland and abroad.
Matti Kujasalo is one of Finland's best-known artists internationally. He has held solo exhibitions in leading European galleries and museums in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Hungary, among other countries. He has also represented Finland at the Venice Biennial and his works are included in the collections of museums such as the Albertina in Vienna, the Arithmeum in Bonn, the Forum Konkrete Kunst Museum in Erfurt, the Joseph Albers Museum in Bottorp, along with numerous private collections in Finland, Scandinavia, other European countries, and the United States.
The Matti Kujasalo exhibition that will now open at Galerie Anhava is his first in Helsinki in the past five years and contains some forty works from this period.
A large and richly illustrated book on Matti Kujasalo's oeuvre of the past forty years will appear in connection with the exhibition. It contains articles by Dr. Ina Prinz of the Arithmeum, Bonn, Professor Harald Kunde of RWTH, Aachen and the artist and architect Leonhard Lapin, who is a professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts
Text courtesy galerie denise rené.
