Göthman & Piippo
Guilty Pleasure

05. - 28.08.2016

Guilty Pleasure, a joint exhibition by Lukas Göthman and Olli Piippo, starts off the Autumn at Helsinki Contemporary. From August 5 to 28, this unique body of paintings will effervesce with the joy of creation, with the focus on the act of painting and the pleasure it brings. Throwing yourself into the process of painting means experimenting and exploring different possibilities, while the finished works radiate pleasure and passion.

The title of the exhibition, Guilty Pleasure, suggests the vice, or literally pleasure, that derives from guilt. For Göthman and Piippo, painting is a strategy for the dissolute, with the act itself guided by gratification. The world of the exhibition conveys an attitude of potent energy that is both inspiring and disturbing.

IN LUKAS GÖTHMAN’S LIFELONG JOURNEY IMAGES ARE DRAWN FROM WORDS

Lukas Göthman’s works are based on text. His paintings created with massive layers of paint incorporate words from the artist’s travel journals, both real and fictional. Göthman’s travel writings are created in places that are in one way or another connected to the past and to remembering. In paintings of various sizes, the words can take the lead or simply echo frames of mind. The relationship of image with word, and with Göthman’s overall working process, induces synaesthesia – a mingling of the senses. The written elements become gestures in the painting, ultimately forming their own language and poetry. The works resemble “expeditions into the wonderful tragedy that is life”, as Göthman says, inviting viewers to make their own journeys.

OLLI PIIPPO’S PAINTINGS DISCOVER A NEW LIGHTNESS AND FREEDOM

Where Göthman draws on text, Olli Piippo bases his work on images that are both personal and found, true and generated by the imagination and memory. These are mixed together in the paintings, which play organically with representational and non-representational elements. In Piippo’s new works we can find familiar, everyday elements that lure viewers back into their own worlds. The artist has tried to shake off the straitjacket of motivation by a single concept or idea. His pieces exude a lightness that seems to well up straight from the core of the painting. Piippo’s work is driven by a playful escapism. He throws himself into the painting process, letting it feed itself.

Seriality is essential to both Göthman’s and Piippo’s work, as is the courage to make mistakes during the working process. One of the underlying themes is the idea that justice will ultimately prevail. The literary device known as poetic justice refers to the consequences caused by individuals themselves in which vices are punished and virtues rewarded – occasionally accompanied by an ironic hiccup. A meaningful act of painting is like a hopeless mission, and Göthman and Piippo have devoted themselves to its nuances with no guarantee of success. The ideas of transience and momentum are also there – as if crystallizing the success that finally emerges of its own accord, despite all the difficulties.

LUKAS GÖTHMAN

The abstract paintings by the Stockholm-resident artist Lukas Göthman (b. 1970) are based on text. Göthman’s paintings are created layer by layer, and depict words from real and imaginary travel journals written by the artist himself. The textual elements become painted gestures, ultimately speaking their own language and poetry. In Sweden this self-taught artist is popular with the general public. His previous solo exhibition, Dreamers and Lovers Drifting, was at Björkholmen Gallery in 2015, and he last showed at Helsinki Contemporary in 2012. His works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions around Sweden and Europe, including Stockholm, Malmö, Amsterdam and Paris.

OLLI PIIPPO

Olli Piippo (b. 1980) lives and works in Berlin. His work is characterized by figurative elements that support a narrative, even if the pieces are mainly based on the experience evoked by the abstract expression. Piippo’s most recent solo exhibition was Staring at the Sea, Standing in the Sand at Forum Box, Helsinki, in 2015, and he participated in the group exhibition Let’s Get Physical at Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig in 2016. His works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions, mainly in Germany, Finland and Sweden. He is also known as the curator of Black Market, which organizes exhibition happenings and events. Art Slant listed him among the ‘15 international curators to watch’ in 2015.