Checkmate is part of Dislocation, a collaborative project together with an illustrator Jesse Auersalo and a photographer Nina Merikallio. It brings together sculpture and two-dimensional prints using traditional methods to produce avant-garde works on the borderland of art and design. The exhibited pieces in Checkmate fall into two categories of adult playthings: chess equipment and sex toys. Chess is essentially a game of strategy and intelligence while sex is instinctual. Checkmate explores the mutual connections and associations between the two games in relation to each other. What constitutes as a game? Can games be played without rules? How do the categories of form and function apply to playthings? Utterly unusable, displayed as unfinished game of chess in the gallery space, the Checkmate chess pieces consist of six sculptures reminiscent of dildos and butt plugs handcrafted in sophisticated materials. A numbered edition of photographic prints accompanies the sculptures. Taken by photographer Paavo Lehtonen, they embody the King, the Queen, the Rook, the Knight, the Bishop, and the Pawn.

The exhibition Dislocation explores different interpretations of the body ranging from over proportionate sex toys to platonic nudes. The exhibited pieces work on intellectual and primitive levels verging on the orgasmic. Introducing new ways of seeing the corporeal experience they question everyday design and fashion photography.

Checkmate sculptures and photographs were exhibited at The Hole Gallery, New York in 2014. Knight, from Checkmate series, has been exhibited at group exhibitions “A Cave for Play“ at Leikkiluola in 2018 and “How to Slow Rush” at Titanik Gallery, Turku in 2019.

Semiprecious started as a journey to question the concept of value and presumptions of status within contemporary art. The three Semiprecious sculptures are made entirely using traditional and meticulous manual techniques such as sculpted marble and porcelain casts. They could essentially be used as water pipes, an object that has a rich history going back to 16th century Chinese nobility yet today seen as obscene. The illicit nature of the sculptures is deceived by the fine form that turns the audience’s response into positive, thus the underground camouflages itself to the auction house through valuable materials and craftsmanship.

Each sculpture is accompanied by an exhibition book that follows the challenges and joys of the work process throughout one year. Semiprecious is documented by photographer Jukka Ovaskainen and graphic designer Jaakko Suomalainen.

In collaboration with: Jaakko Suomalainen, Jukka Ovaskainen, Maria Tasula, Bukowskis, Shadi&Stephanie Productions, Cocoa Helsinki, Konstsamfundet, Fotoyks, Lasismi and Redfina. MODERN + CONTEMPORARY concept.

Semiprecious was exhibited and auctioned at Bukowskis Helsinki in November 2013. Blunto, from Semiprecious series, has been exhibited at “We Live Here” show at Stockholm Design Week 2015 and Boyo at “Table Talks” exhibition at Design Museum Arabia, Helsinki in 2015.

For more information: http://semiprecioussf.tumblr.com