In his first solo gallery exhibition in Finland since 1997, Alvar Gullichsen (born 1961) presents BENIN PASSION VOL I & II, a suite of works created partly in Benin, West Africa (VOL I) and partly in the Punavuori district of Helsinki (VOL II).
BENIN PASSION VOL I is a surrealistic series of gouaches, water colours, collages and drawings in the manner of a journal depicting the states of mind and moods of every day and night of a two-month period spent by Alvar Gullichsen on a grant at Villa Karo in Grand Popo, Benin from April to June 2002.
The works of BENIN PASSION VOL II, made in Helsinki, repeat the African experiences in magnified format, applied to "local conditions". One of the artist’s sources of inspiration were the hand-painted advertisements, barbershop and other signs that Gullichsen saw in Berlin which here take the form of words and images combined into "billboards". During the 1980s and 1990s, Gullichsen made fictive advertisements and signs with his Bonk Business Inc. Working group. To add brands and phrases to the images is related not only to the semiotics of Bonk but also to pop art and to the African culture of recycling. In West Africa, Western (Christian) symbols and brands merge to become part of the local system of beliefs. A kind of sampling, appropriation, reincarnation of logos.
Gullichsen’s Miranol installations combine possession and symbolic reincarnation with the defunctionalism of Bonk: birch cordwood stripped, polished and coated with glossy furniture paint into decorative pieces of firewood. The sign praising Miranol paint is painted in the colours of the rainbow – naturally with Miranol paint.
Gullichsen regards the situation prevailing at the time of creation as the starting point of his new works. "The peace and focus that I experienced at Villa Karo helped me develop my ability to improvise. I listen to my inner voices and give them an image. The essential thing for me is presence, a focus on the present moment and a connection with my emotions. Chains of association often produce archetypal figures and concepts. Beneath the dust of art there lies a greater structure, a universal order that opens up as our understanding of ourselves and our world grows."
With the BENIN PASSION VOL I & II suite Gullichsen takes a step towards the unknown. The works are meditative and mystical, even abstract. There is, however, the presence of surreal humour, a reminder that Gullichsen does not take himself, or his art too seriously. His new works underscore seriality and the artistic process. "I want the intuitive to exude from my works, and I also want to let myself change my means of expression or style if this feels necessary. Therefore, what we will see here will be a kind of solo group exhibition."
