Jukka Korkeila
Oneness of Purpose

06. - 29.09.2019

In September, Jukka Korkeila’s much-awaited solo show Oneness of Purpose will fill Helsinki Contemporary with new paintings and an installation made out of glowing golden foil. The exhibition will divide the gallery space into two parts that serve as emblems for this world and the next, and for the two together. The paintings seen in the different spaces will constitute their own integrated wholes, with the viewing experience taking on its own distinct form in each setting.

With his new works Korkeila urges viewers to experience light and oneness, instead of seeking out differences and distinctions. “Everything starts from light,” he says. “Oneness of Purpose – the purpose of oneness – is linked to the idea of a network that embraces the whole of humanity, of which we are all a part and connected with each other. We are all each other’s brothers and sisters. We are drops in the communal ocean, where we are at one with the primordial energy from which we have come, and which in our culture is called God.”

The fluttering flag on the invitation and in the exhibition itself leads viewers into the show’s themes. It combines two symbols that are filled with meaning: the Orthodox cross and the rainbow flag, which perhaps send out messages that can be seen as mutually antagonistic, but underlying both is the message of love and acceptance. 

“My aim is to reduce anxiety and to heal wounds in both camps, and to open up a constructive, loving discussion about issues that affect all of us: as complex entities we are a mixture, none of us is purely and exclusively homosexual or heterosexual, a man or a woman, rather we are a mix of different attributes, which serve as elements of the multiplicity that arises somewhere between all the different alternatives.”

Jukka Korkeila is one of Finland’s foremost painters, who each year takes part in exhibitions abroad. He lives and works in Helsinki, Berlin and Oberhessen. Korkeila represented Finland at the São Paulo Art Biennial in 2004 and participated in the Prague Biennale in 2003 and 2007. In 2014, he participated in the Bienal del Fin del Mundo at Mar del Plata, Argentina. Korkeila has had solo exhibitions at Moderna Museet, Stockholm, and the Nordic Watercolour Museum in Skärhamn, Sweden. He has participated widely in exhibitions around Europe and his works are in all the main Nordic collections.In 2014–15, Korkeila participated in the 4th Biennial of the End of the World in Mar del Plata, Argentina and, in 2017–18, in the extensive retrospective exhibition Pleasure at Helsinki Art Museum, HAM, and the Serlachius Museums in Mänttä. In 2018, Korkeila was included in the LucTuymans-curated Sanguine/Bloedrood exhibition at M HKA – Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp. In summer 2019, Korkeila and Markus Karger co-curated the extensive international In Situ exhibition in Hirzenhain and Gedern, Oberhessen, near Frankfurt am Main.

Thank you to Markus Karger, as well as to the Arts Promotion Center Finland and Greta and William Lehtinen foundation for supporting the artist's work.