Päivi Takala

Visual artist Päivi Takala is FCINY’s artist-in-residency in June 2017. In her practice Takala explores the boundaries of painting as an art form. By confining, veiling, and undressing the canvas she makes the viewer aware of all the decisions that are made about the painting’s composition and all the structures that are built upon the piece. The paintings allude to realistic figurativeness – the topic is visible and on display, but cannot be fully read.

Recently Takala has approached the core of painting: how much can you alter a painting until it becomes something entirely different? Takala’s practice has gone through a remarkable change during the last six months; she has moved from two- dimensional to three-dimensional planes.

In her current paintings, Takala is intrigued by yard and garden landscapes, especially those found in Finnish suburbs. She integrates visual elements of the yards into the iconic grid-topic; exposed-aggregate concrete slabs and flower frameworks made of impregnated wood become a part of timeless and non-narrative thematics of modernism. 

In New York Takala aims to expand her studies to the public parks and community gardens of the city. She will explore the idioms of different parks, hoping to find a visual meeting point between public gardens and the imagery of painting. Working as a lecturer at Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Takala will also acquaint herself with the Art Academies of New York and their exhibitions.