Annu Vertanen – Cellular Matrix

The exhibition presents Annu Vertanen's work from a long career. Vertanen is known as an innovator of Finnish printmaking, who has expanded the expression of graphics and combined other art forms with it. In addition to graphics, the Porous Matrix exhibition includes watercolour works, videos and sculptures.

The closest technique to Vertanen is woodcut. She is also an expert in traditional Japanese watercolour woodcuts. Although the large-scale works require many hours of carving and printing, Vertanen's work is characterised by a sense of airiness and clarity, alongside the vibrant colour tones and a deliberate simplicity.

Layering is a key feature of the artist's work. Vertanen combines several thin sheets of paper, or prints overlapping layers of paper. The colours and patterns overlap in a translucent way, creating three-dimensionality and optical phenomena in the works. The artist is interested in how we perceive things.