Kati Immonen has been the artist in residence at Almost Perfect for the month of February. Her exhibition Play Forest will be shown in Almost Perfect’s gallery between February 25th and March 2nd, with an artist talk and a reception February 27th at 18:00.
Kati Immonen: Play Forest
Exhibition February 25th – March 2nd 13:00 – 19:00
Artist talk and reception February 27th 18:00 – 21:00
Free, please register for the artist talk by e-mail to info@finstitute.jp
Venue Almost Perfect, 2-3-2 Kojima, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0056
Photo: Kati Immonen
“I am interested in reinventing and reintroducing watercolour painting as a valid medium in contemporary art. I make use of the supposed easy and ‘light’ nature of the medium and strive to make an impact with clear cut and dynamic expression. My imagery and topics range between military history, ecological dilemmas and the enjoyment of nature.
In the paintings that I have worked on during my residency period in Almost Perfect I have looked into the human need for control and order which clashes with the free and wild organic nature. The starting point of my latest series of paintings titled “Play Forest” were the flower baskets sold during the Christmas time in my native Finland. My “Play Forest” combines the flora of Finnish forest and ideas of Japanese Bonsai ending up as small watercolor paintings. The series has its origins in the miniature worlds of the summer-cottage games and self-made toys of my childhood, which I made using things from the forest: pine and fir needles, cones, May lilies, moss and lichen. Moss became a mountain and small tree branches formed a forest. In the Japanese garden art and in the tradition of Bonsai small becomes big and huge is turned into little.”
BIO
Kati Immonen (b. 1971, Jyväskylä, Finland) graduated from the Department of Painting at Turku School of Fine Arts in 1997. She has exhibited widely in Finland and abroad, lately in Helsinki Contemporary, Mikkeli Headquarters Museum, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Örö fortress island, Saarijärvi museum and Galerie Christian Roellin in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Her works are represented in prominent Finnish public collections, and in the Nordic Watercolour Museum in Sweden. At the moment she is working on a comission work for new Nova Hospital in Jyväskylä, Finland.