Melita Westerlund -Sculpture
8.9. – 26.9.2010

Press Release

HAR FIBER / SOFT METAL

I live in two continents. In the summertime I live in Finland, where my studio is by a small lake. In the wintertime my studio is located in an industrial building on an island in the state of Maine, in USA. In each place I create very different kind of work. My Finland pieces are more tactile oriented as my tools are fairly simple. In America I build large scale pieces that require more technical solutions and equipment.

Galleria BE´19 hosts my first solo show in Helsinki. Prior to this show I have participated in group shows in different parts of Finland.

This exhibit HARD FIBER / SOFT METAL is important to me on several levels. Partly in my choice of materials as well as in the choice of context, which refers to nature and its complexity.

For this show my point of departure has been the environment. We do depend on nature for our existence and yet we do not take care of it, nor do we sustain its resources, which leads to elimination and destruction of pieces, both on land and in the oceans. The pollution of the oceans is a concern of mine, as I have almost always lived close to the water. In the oceans the temperature changes and the lack of minerals are destroying the coral reefs.

In the developing of the “form-language” for this show I was led to developing a new medium based upon a pre-consumer waste fiber. As a contrast to this malleable fiber I use industrial aluminium sheet which is cut, bent and constructed into shapes that would express the water and its motion.

Melita Westerlund