Emma Jääskeläinen*

Emma Jääskeläinen, Repose, 2021. Courtesy & Photo: PSM, Berlin. Exhibition view: K60, Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin, 2021

Emma Jääskeläinen, Creator (New Potatoe & Olive), 2017. Collection: HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: Maija Toivanen

PSM is pleased to present the first exhibition by Emma Jääskeläinen in Germany. The Finnish artist will create new granit, marble and textile sculptures for the gallery as well as K60, a group exhibition by eight Berlin galleries on view at Wilhelm Hallen, Berlin-Reinickendorf.

Born 1988 in Espoo, Finland where Jääskeläinen still lives and works she had her most recent and prominent presentation in 2020 at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki with a commission that brought forth a sculpture family representative for the sculptor’s artistic approach and attitude.

Emma Jääskeläinen, Sunset Sweater, 2020. Courtesy: The Finnish National Gallery Photo: Petri Virtanen

Working with physical repetitive processes usually through carving and manipulating materials into sculptures and wall works Jääskeläinen observes our relationship to objects and bodies. Alienation from the surrounding nature and doing things by hand have led Jääskeläinen to close inspection of stone as a material. The celebration of slow change counteracts common social assets of efficiency and proficiency. The subjects of the sculptures derive from the everyday, pop culture clichés and motifs from past sculptures. Hands are cartoonishly exaggerated and butts on a pedestal suggest artificial implants handled on a tray.

Disciplined methods and static forms made of stone and metal are celebrated with non-permanent vibrant layers made up of ready-mades like clothing, seashells, chewing gums. Juxtaposing these opposites breaks down hierarchies between materials and reminds us that forever is a false premonition. Fragile details in seemingly permanent structures take us closer to the act of collecting and owning things and to what constitutes as something desirable. Everything seems to be about genuine feelings of love and belonging.

Emma Jääskeläinen, Protector and Black Pepper, 2020. Courtesy: The Finnish National Gallery. Photo: Petri Virtanen

With a wry and cheeky humor Jääskeläinen’s works run contrary to monumental tendencies as so often pursued in contemporary sculpture. Instead, they offer something that “does not look like macho, serious, great landmarks, but somehow cute, soft, warm, distorted, tickling you to laugh…” (Emma Jääskeläinen)

Emma Jääskeläinen, Workshop View, 2020. Courtesy: The Finnish National Gallery Photo: Petri Virtanen