Sirpa Hammar - Embroidered wings

18.04. - 10.06.2018

Paintings by Finnish artist Sirpa Hammar

Sirpa Hammar is a freelance illustrator. Her paintings in this exhibition are decorative, with Art Nouveau-like flamboyance, knowingly exploring the borderlines of Naive Art. Rhythmic repetition, enrichment of works with gold and silver, poppy seeds and seashells, and the lack of spatial depth – these are just a few keywords that characterise her work. The artist draws upon European art history and the Golden Age of Finnish art: characters in historical costumes appear to the background of Finnish National Romantic buildings, Italian Renaissance architecture or decorative natural motifs or landscapes.

The artist’s interpretations of the 100 years of Finnish and Estonian cultural life, where the collective portraits of cultural figures are like monuments, make up a separate category. All her narrative works are characterised by a unique lethargic peace, which makes it possible for the past and the present to coexist in harmony. Besides combining the history and the present day in decorative style, Sirpa Hammar has created photorealistic urbanscapes of modern Helsinki. These works also include a certain clash as the miniature size meets hyperrealism.

Besides book illustrations and miniature paintings, Sirpa Hammar has made a few huge murals, in which the diversity of the plot is conveyed typically from the cavalier perspective, or bird’s-eye view. Sirpa Hammar’s creative work also includes applied graphics for Finland’s well-known Snellman's meat processing industry – the almost naive, peaceful and idyllic world of Mr Snellman.

Mari Vallikivi