I Am Painting is the first solo show by Finnish artist Marianna Uutinen (born in 1961) at carlier | gebauer. The exhibition presents new works. In parallel, as of November 9, in an exhibition entitled Last Supper Salon Dahlmann will be showing an exhibition by Marianna Uutinen and Anselm Reyle which the artists have curated themselves.
In Uutinen’s work, the composition unfolds like a thin skin stretching out over the canvas. Explosions of color on large-format canvases which confront and take hold of the viewer. Discos, flashlights, neon and glamour are perhaps what comes into people’s minds when they look at her pictures. The physical presence of her work is reinforced by their size and structure. Titles such as Big Bang, Surreal and Love Supreme evoke associations without supplying these works with any clear meaning. The abstract projections of the viewer become concrete observations in the paintings of Uutinen. The texture of her material of choice – conventional acrylic paint – creates a particular artificiality. A plasticity reminiscent of plastic packaging. At the same time, when viewed close up, the surface of her paintings appears almost fragile. This is especially true of the way that Uutinen employs the transparent material of acrylic as a figurative medium. And Uutinen underscores the artificiality of this reality with her choice of colors: neon pink, gold, silver, black.