Juri Markkula x Nordiska Galleriet

Juri Markkula was born in 1970 in Turku, Finland, but has lived and worked on Gotland for a long time. With his technique and expression, he combines art and advanced technology in his own unique way, allowing the components to interact and enhance each other. With many successful and acclaimed exhibitions around the world and major works for public environments, he is now collaborating with Nordiska Galleriet. In a fusion of art and furniture design, he has applied his technique to Hays' Palissade series. Green to Lilac is seven unique objects created exclusively for Nordiska Galleriet.

What does art mean to you?
- The bar is set at 'a miracle', but really I would include all human activity in the term. Anything that involves an in-depth attempt at communication through various media. Exactly what you communicate, or with whom, is less important.

How would you describe your art?
- Maybe like my works are physical things that try to be in a different space than where they are.

This is an approach that I have continued to develop and today I use a lot of different techniques that allow me to be a spectator of the "making" itself. And I enjoy standing next to, or in front of, and seeing how the result is produced.

How important is art to humanity?
- Art, music, literature and other forms of expression are a consequence of our ability to communicate. This is so integral to our being that it is impossible to imagine a life without elements of artistic expression. Then it can be made and used out of necessity or for pleasure, both by the performer and the viewer.

How do you see the way we approach art? Can people sometimes feel a fear of not understanding or knowing enough?
- I think the interest in art is triggered by a sudden impulse, a concrete experience. You see something that you react to, perhaps because it attracts you in some way. Then the relationship deepens the more you engage with it. Things like fear and other negative emotions, or undue respect for art, just get in the way of impressions, thoughts and the whole experience. There is no right or wrong in your experience of a work of art, but there may be more layers to discover.

You have your own expression and also your own technique - how and from what has it emerged?
- During my studies, I painted a lot with brushes, oil colours and other traditional methods and materials. At the time, I fantasised about a "painting machine", something that I could control and make perform different steps in the painting process. I felt that it would be much easier, and also quicker and more convenient to achieve results if I could produce a new colour field or change a shade at the touch of a button. These were the first ideas for 'painting machines' that I realised and showed in my final exhibition. This is an approach that I have continued to develop and today I use a lot of different techniques that allow me to be a spectator of the "making" itself. And I enjoy standing next to, or in front of, and seeing how the result is produced.

What inspires you? Both for the current works you have created for Nordiska Galleriet and for your creativity in general.
- I am often inspired by the experience of something appearing very real. Something that manages to break through the habitual way of seeing that you usually find yourself in. Many times it can be triggered by a digital reality, or different materials that seem to be in a different place or light than their surroundings. I got the idea for the expression on Palissade many years ago when I saw a car painted with colour-changing pigments. When it drove past me, it seemed to move in a completely different way from the other cars, it stood out and seemed to float in another dimension. I had to follow it until it stopped and find out what made it different from all the other vehicles on the road.

Applying your art to a utilitarian object, a piece of furniture, like Palissade, how is it different from creating something from scratch?
- For me, ideas are often born slowly, so it's nice to be able to reuse them in different forms and apply them in a way that I don't usually do. I also think the result was surprisingly positive.

How do you hope these unique objects will be placed, used, live on with their owners and their homes?
- My focus is on the actual "redemption" and I very rarely think about the future of things. Of course, it's entirely up to each person what they do with their specimen, but it's fun that they actually function as both an object and a piece of furniture.

What's next?
- I have a few ongoing projects in the studio and this summer I am sketching a decoration for an outdoor environment of almost 3000 square metres. In the autumn, a fun project awaits together with some wonderful colleagues and a Japanese master of folding screens. It will be both a workshop and an exhibition.

Juri Markkula's artwork can be seen in an exhibition in the shop on Nybrogatan. Sales are by registration of interest and first come, first served.