The LUCKY LAP exhibition consists of a series of new works in which Lasse Juuti takes his painting further into the three-dimensional realm. With his exceptionally open-minded, playful approach, Juuti points to the potential that can be found beyond the flat, rectangular picture surface that is the norm for painting. His large, sculptural paintings stand or lie scattered across the gallery floor, forming a landscape that is of something vaguely familiar, yet imaginative and alien.

Juuti investigates painting in a way that brings the various materials into focus. He accentuates the way that painting is more than just conveying an image. He deconstructs the painting, examines its different components, their properties, and places them in a process of their own, so that together they become something more. His work is underpinned by detailed sketches and written concepts and ideas, while at the same time being highly responsive to where the materials and their intrinsic expression take him. He sets off a movement that, once up and running, is also allowed to go in surprising directions. He combines painting, assemblage and sculpture in a way that evokes something intuitive, free and playful, yet well controlled.

The wooden frames of the sculptural works serve both as stretcher frames and as load-bearing structures, setting out the lines for the work’s final form. For these structures Juuti draws his inspiration from the design and construction solutions used in vehicles such as cars and boats. Early aircraft and canoes were also built on a framework over which membranes of fabric, paper, or leather were stretched. Juuti makes use of scale and dimension. He enlarges and reduces shapes and lines taken from elements in our everyday lives and surroundings. For example, he combines architectural labyrinths with playing fields, crosswords, scratch cards and games of chance.

The themes of LUCKY LAP revolve around ideas about movement and time, home and leisure. There are references to games, play, sports, and pastimes. Movement involves contact with our own bodies and surroundings. The rules of games and play encourage us to communicate, which in turn creates bonds and builds relationships. We can also see them as exercises and challenges, in which we come up against our own limits and learn to set new goals. Juuti fascinatingly captures the warmth present in play and games, achieving something that attracts us, while at the same time being forgiving, and allowing failure.

Markus Åström
Curator