Enriched Landscape
Rikastettu maisema
Heinola Art Museum FI
29.1.–4.3.2022
Paintings of environmental destruction’s aesthetics
Roy Aurinko deals the effects of mining through his childhood memories in an exhibition at the Heinola Art Museum. His abstract paintings aestheticize the landscape shaped by mining. “The subject is contradictory to me: a combination of nostalgia and irresponsibility. It is also an aesthetically fascinating starting point for the works,” describes Aurinko.
The artist has grown up next to an open-pit mine in Ostrobothnia, Northern Finland. The Hitura mine, founded in 1970, was located four kilometers from home, and a little further afield was the Makola mine, which was established in the 1940s and has since closed. Aurinko says that the topic has been on his mind for years, starting with the news of current mining devastations in Finland. “I haven’t caught on to it because I thought painting was too slow apparat to deal with such a topical issue. However, 10 years later, the question of the consequences of the business operations of the mining companies operating in Finland and the environmental impact of future mining projects is the most topical. ”
The works in the exhibition he has painted with a mixed technique combining oil, acrylic, pastel and cement. “Despite the name of the exhibition, there is no landscape painting on display, but the connection of my non-figurative paintings to the landscape is mainly indicative. However, I would believe anyone who has seen similar mining areas recognizes a familiar atmosphere in the paintings.”