Laura Lappi “Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere”
Lorimoto
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Lorimoto Gallery I excited to announce a solo exhibition of sculptures and photographs by Laura Lappi.
Laura Lappi’s work observes and translates the architecture of place from the land of the midnight sun, through both sculpture and photography. Lorimoto is proud to present Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere featuring larger-than-life charred, wood sculptures and documentary photographs of a kinetic, site specific installation. This is the artists first solo exhibition in New York City. Please join the opening reception of Nowhere, Anywhere, Everywhere on September 7th 6-9pm at Lorimoto Gallery located at 1623 Hancock ST. Ridgewood , NY 11385. The gallery is open Saturday and Sunday noon – 6pm and by appointment.
Raised in rural Finland, Laura was initially inspired by her childhood under the light of ‘nightless nights’ and the still darkness of winter where the sun seldom rises above the horizon. Photography is an ideal medium for Lappi to record this phenomenon. An online guide, This is Finland (https://finland.fi/) explains:
“Clear weather allows one to see outdoors for a few hours, but soon the darkness takes over. However, when the sky is clear, it is not pitch black. A layer of clean white snow increases the brightness…[and] artificial lights and moonlight are reflected off it.”
For natives the effect of light (or lack of it) dominates their visual experience of the world and shrouds it in melancholy. Further isolating, abandoned farmhouses scattered throughout a bucolic setting were the backdrop to Laura Lappi’s childhood. In an effort the capture the psyche of her surroundings, the artist builds structures with layers of wood, stacking and patterning pieces of decorative molding (typically found accentuating the interior walls of homes) in repeating abstract shapes by inlaying beveled trim. Made with the pride of a true craftsperson, the resulting wood configurations look too new, too perfect, too visible as is, so the artist chars them. Blackened with flame, the subtle harmony of the brittle, slightly reflective surface is pocked with tiny holes and accentuated by deep ridges amid geometric shapes. These ominous seven-foot panels feel like mysterious artifacts of ruined architecture, resembling a gateway or a carved codex, and offer a puzzling color field that reveals details in the shadows.
Accompanying the sculptures, are photographs of Lappi’s process and sculptural installations. Eight photographs reveal the process of charring, though it is unclear if the sculpture is devolving or evolving. A second series of photos documents a site-specific installation standing in a suburban Colorado landscape titled Study of Charring Wood and Burning Structures II. A large, carbonized wood column is enveloped by smoke emitted from inside the sculpture. Like floating out of a dream, the smoky scene has an eerie feeling. Encapsulating her ouevre, Laura Lappi’s obscure, atmospheric outdoor installation, are hauntingly elegant.
Laura Lappi was born and raised in Finland, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the Netherlands, and now lives and works on the cusp of Brooklyn and Queens. Her current project is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Her work has been exhibited Riihimäki Art Museum and Galleria Uusi Kipinä, (both Finland), the Rotterdam Art Fair and the Stockholm Art Fair, The Yard (Colorado Springs), AC Institute (online screening). Lappi has been an artist-in-residence at Yaddo (New York) and SIM (Reykjavik), and will be a 2019 participant in the Bronx Museum Artists in the Marketplace program (New York).
Media
Schedule
from September 07, 2019 to September 22, 2019