MARJA BLOMSTER
Great Urban Expectations
19.8.-6.9.2009

Press Release

The theme of my previous exhibition was the urban nature. In this exhibition the subject of my paintings also deals with city surroundings. I have studied, what kind of expectations manifest the urban way of living. While painting these works, I have had e.g. comic strips and advertisements in my mind.

Expectation of an expectation (2009): On a cold day in Helsinki I ran into a group of over a hundred young people queuing up and sitting on the pavement. I photographed them. I do not know what they were queuing up for, but the waiting was physical, several hours long expectation in the coldness. Maybe they were fans of Apulanta, waiting for the Waiting.

The never-finished-factory building (2009): The artwork shows the waiting of a big group of people in the former Soviet Union - waiting, which fell by the wayside. The original factory is in the Ladoga Karelia and it was supposed to produce medicine, which there were shortage of. The painting is a metaphor of the fall of the Soviet Union. - In 1989, twenty years ago, I had an exhibition there, in the state, which does not exist any longer.

Waiting completed (2009): This painting deals with China. Xing Yan is allowed to move from the countryside to the city, because she has got a job. First she lives with the relatives, but afterwards will get a place of her own.

The concept of expecting is very broad. It can be physical queuing, but also an utopian dream. It can be happy or torture and fear. A short waiting can feel long and vice versa. In my mind expectation in general, is a positive matter.

-Marja Blomster-