Galerie Forsblom, January 13–February 12, 2023
 

Riku Mäkinen (b. 1974) emphasizes the sketch-like nature of his new collages. The various stages of the process are both visible and palpable in the roughly executed prints and the undisguised presence of the gluing technique. His works occupy a terrain between graphic art and painting: through collage, Mäkinen combines the printed quality and decorativeness of graphic art with painterly gestures and shapes. The end result is a nuanced flow of perpetual subtle movement that endows his art with a sense of immateriality.

Mäkinen uses a self-invented cutting and gluing technique. He tears and cuts out paper shapes, which he then arranges in a composition on an aluminum plate. His self-dyed cut-outs of tissue paper overlap and merge with each other, creating a variety of abstract shapes. He deliberately leaves scratches and torn strips of paper visible on the surface of the aluminum. They form an important part of the artwork, in which texture and roughness are central components. Mäkinen invented his signature technique in the process of trying to find a way to push the seriality of printmaking in a more painterly direction. As always is the case in printmaking, chance plays a huge part in the result.
 

Mäkinen completed a master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts and studied sculpture and media art at the Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts. He has been a visiting lecturer at many Finnish art schools, and his work is found in collections, including the Finnish State Art Deposit Collection and the Sara Hildén Art Museum.