8.6.-2.7.

In my paintings, insulation boards, electrical insulation and bales of animal feed are linked to the human body and its energy consumption. For example, sweat serves as a painted sign of the flows in the body. The word “HIIT” in the name of the exhibition is the abbreviation for high-intensity interval training and, when pronounced, also contains a reference to heat. I see exercise as an invigorating self-motivated activity and enjoyable waste of energy but also as a form of self-control that may include obsessive-compulsive behavior.

My works deal with compelling needs related to the consumption of energy, painting and exercise, compulsive repeated actions and the related outbursts. I create strange and exaggerated images of our relationship with energy and tools through which energy flows into our daily lives and through our bodies and changes them.

Jyri Ala-Ruona (b. 1986) earned a bachelor’s degree from the Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts in 2011 and a Master of Fine Arts degree specializing in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. His works are included in the collections of the Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA and the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS). The artist lives and works in Helsinki.

The exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.