SAMMLUNG PETERS-MESSER

Miettinen Collection and Sammlung Peters-Messer are proud to present one of the largest exhibitions of Finnish Constructivism ever held outside Finland. With more than 60 works of art and design by over 20 artists and designers, Konkretismi. Geometrische Wirklichkeiten offers insights into several decades of Concrete and Constructivist art in the Nordic country. At the same time, the year 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of Lars-Gunnar “Nubben” Nordström’s birth, the pioneer of non-representational art in Finland. The exhibition pays a special homage to the legendary artist – with his altogether eight outstanding paintings and a sculpture.

In Finland, Concretism and the international form of Constructivism took hold after the Second World War. The aim of the movement was to develop a new universal language of non-figurative aesthetics where artworks were reduced to the basics: colour, direction, line, movement, space, surface and tension. The clearest hallmark of this style is its absolute insistence on abstraction. It is free of references to the observed reality and therefore void of symbolic meanings and naturalistic associations. Therefore, some have called it pure art.

In the country that had survived the horrors of war after the Soviet Union had attacked Finland in 1939 and again in 1941, the arts served in the rebuilding process of a democratic society. By means of affordable print-making the artworks became available to the general public: this might have been one of the reasons why so many Finnish Constructivists decided to express themselves through prints. The culmination of Constructivist and Concrete approach to arts and design took place in Finland in the 1970s when, in fact, the number of artists, designers and architects working or experimenting with abstract geometric forms was so high that one could exaggerate a bit and say that the movement was like a pandemic that hit everyone!

Konkretismi. Geometrische Wirklichkeiten, a group exhibition curated by Mika Minetti, opens in August 2024 at the premises of Sammlung Peters-Messer in Viersen, Germany, with a broad selection of works from the Miettinen Collection. Classic Constructivists are presented side by side with contemporary artists, whose work at times reflects, comments or builds on the legacy of Constructivism and Concrete art, or associates with it freely – perhaps even unconsciously.

The artists of the exhibition are Carolus Enckell (1945-2017), Grönlund-Nisunen (born 1967 and 1962 respectively), Helena Kauppila (born 1982), Ola Kolehmainen (born 1964), Matti Kujasalo (born 1946), Ville Kylätasku (born 1979), Niko Luoma (born 1970), Jaakko Mattila (born 1976), Kirsi Mikkola (born 1959), Jussi Niva (born 1966), Lars-Gunnar Nordström (1924-2014), Paul Osipow (born 1939), Silja Rantanen (born 1955), Riiko Sakkinen (born 1976), Vaula Siiskonen (born 1950), Marianna Uutinen (born 1961), Sam Vanni (1908-1992 and Marko Vuokola (born 1967). The show will be completed with iconic glass works and an original sketch by Timo Sarpaneva (1926-2006), fashion photography by Claire Aho (1925-2015) as well as Aino (1894-1949) and Alvar Aalto’s (1898-1976) Functionalist furniture. A special connection with Aalto and Finland becomes apparent in the works by the German artist Jo Niemeyer (born 1946).