HANNA MARNO: Édouard The Velvet Foot | Taideaukio [Art Square], Eteläranta

The work by Marno is made from wood parts that have been received as donations from private persons in the area around Northen Satakunta, and especially from the municipality of Siikainen where Marno resides. Marno has also used pigments from mushrooms, like from velvet food (samettijalka in Finnish) that is mentioned in the name of the work, to provide colourful surface treatment for the sculpture.

Marno has deliberately made this sculpture on this particular location and has thought about the position of the piece in relationship with the riverbank and the surrounding area, as well as the visual layout of the work in close proximity with the popular recreational site Kirjurinluoto area and the backdrop of the fountain in the middle of the Kokemäenjoki river.

Marno has also thought about the well-known work Luncheon on the Grass by Édouard Manet where from the name of the piece also derives from. The persons in this famous work get transformed as wooden sculptural figure and Marno has utilised her background from film and photography studies to form the composition.

Édouard the Velvet Foot is being produced under the framing of KORSI commissions programme that aims to strengthen the presence of visual arts in the region as well as provide a way for the artists to actualise their work in a discursive relationship with the Pori Art Museum as well as accompanying professionals in the art field utilising also the resources and support of the museum. The processes involved in making a new commission piece will expand beyond the museum walls and around Satakunta area (consisting of 16 municipalities) also opening further possibilities for encountering art and reaching new audiences. Marno’s wooden pieces from the sculpture present in Eteläranta will be also utilised in a Puuaarre (translated as wood treasure). A work later that will be presented in Siikainen later this year.

The support of the KORSI foundation enables the execution of the programme. The purpose of the KORSI foundation is to promote frugality and economic wellbeing, sustainable development and accountability as well as widely support cultural and scientific endeavours that take place in the Satakunta region that nurture and promote its vitality.