Bourouina Gallery is pleased present news works by finnish artist Päivi Takala in dialogue with sculpural interventions by Berlin based artist David Kroell.

 

In her most recent works, Päivi Takala reflects upon decay, disappearance and absence, themes which also guide David Kroell's considerations when creating his spatial interventions. 
Päivi Takala's most recent series Vanitas proposes a contemporary version of the tradition of genre painting. A reminiscence of the ephemeral appears not only in the choice of motifs but also in the working process: after having roughly designed a picture using mask tape to form its contours, she leaves it aside until the glue dries out. When the tape detaches, the composition exfoliates from the canvas. She captures this decomposition in a final painting upon a second canvas. The result is a figurative and photorealistic painting that is yet undeniably abstract. 



 

David Kroell's subtle installation pieces force the viewers to sharpen their senses of sight: almost invisible, the pieces seem to hide from the beholder. Kroell manipulates architectonical details within the exhibition space. He forms rooms in the way that others might mould mounds of clay, and this in a quiet and unostentatious manner: newly painted walls peel off as though decrepit, tiny details occur out of place, and non-existing elements leave traces. As in the work of Päivi Takala, time and the idea of „letting things happen” both play an important role. The consideration of art as a process brings an element of performance into Kroell's work. 



 

A distant and poetic aura marks the works of both artists - as does a manifestation of simultaneous presence and absence. Their works develop a statement about what art could be: the shadow of an idea. They lay down tracks and send the viewer searching.