Gabriele Basch / Jukka Korkeila: HIGH NOON

Kalhama & Piippo is delighted to present the exhibition High Noon by Gabriele Basch (Germany) and Jukka Korkeila (Finland). In the joint exhibition individual works expand and form collage-like installations on the walls and taking over the large exhibition space. Basch and Korkeila have different approaches but they both discuss the painting’s means of expansion, spatial effects of colour, decoration, architecture that bans ornament and an individual’s experience of space. At their first joint exhibition at Kalhama & Piippo these two painters plunge their art into a shared space, in which they challenge each other as well as the exhibition visitor. The name of the exhibition, High Noon, refers to the heat and still atmosphere of midday; with art experience still gives us time to linger.

Painter Jukka Korkeila breaks boundaries both in the content of his images and in the tradition of painting which he brings into a contemporary visual aesthetic. His works vary in a skillful way from the abstract to the classically painted figure and from detailed collages to dominance of entire spaces. Korkeila’s works demonstrate the artist’s ability to depict today’s oddities and private fantasy worlds. He is interested in the issues of his surroundings; phenomena and details which he assimilates into his works. The “super-baroque” layering of visual material has already become a characteristic trademark of Korkeila’s art.

The works by Gabriele Basch invite us to examine a space from different perspectives. At the exhibition at Kalhama & Piippo Basch shows new paintings and paper cut outs. The sense of material is a central part of her work. The glossy surface, the seemingly delicate structure of the work and the colour tinting on the back make even large works seem immaterial, creating contrast with Korkeila’s rich colour painting. The painted reverse-sides of Basch’s cut outs reflect colours onto the white walls and the works obtain a relief-like character.

Basch’s works on canvas crystallise the artist’s interest in nature, geometrical and architectural forms. Her abstract paintings evoke an urban landscape, where motion, pulse, colours and light are mixed together. This mental landscape glowing in bright artificial colours refers to a state of chaotic and psychedelic consciousness. Korkeila, in turn, disrupts formal ways of thinking and questions cultural norms, wherever he encounters one. As the artist draws on themes from marginals and counter-cultures, he avoids mainstream thinking even in them. Sexuality and beauty-ideals that differ from the norm are the source material for his images. The works are like a performance of the art of painting: feelings from humor to disgust are all allowed in his world. Together with Korkeila’s unexpected play of references Basch’s original and aesthetically bewildering paintings create an outstanding spacious atmosphere.

Pilvi Kalhama Helsinki 5.6.2008

Jukka Korkeila (b.1968) lives and works in Helsinki and Berlin. He studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Techonology in 1988-90 and interior- and furniture design at the University of Art and Design 1990-92. He moved to the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 1992-97 and continued his studies at the Berlin University of the Arts between 1997-98. Korkeila is one of the most highly respected Finnish artists outside of Finland. Every year he participates in numerous exhibitions abroad and his works can be found in many distinguished Nordic collections of contemporary art. Year 1999 Korkeila was appointed by the Young Artist Award in Finland and in 2004 he participated in the São Paulo Biennale. For the past five years Korkeila has held the position of lecturer in painting at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.

Gabriele Basch (b. 1964) lives in Berlin. Her body of work consists of paintings, paper cut outs, wall paintings, spatial interventions and photography. Basch studied painting in the turn of the 1980s and 1990s at the Berlin University of the Arts – one of the largest and most traditional art schools in the world. She also studied at Royal College of Art in London year 1993. Basch’s works have frequently been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Europe and are also represented in private and public collections in Sweden and Germany, as well as collections owned by international companies.

Gabriele Basch / Jukka Korkeila
HIGH NOON