Public Art

January: Pekka Jylhä: Broken Wings
Siipirikko (Broken Wings) by sculptor Pekka Jylhä (born 1955) is the City of Espoo’s latest piece of public art. It is located in the old oak grove in front of Kaitaa School and was unveiled on 30.9.2010.
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February: Antonio da Cudan: A Sketch from Space
On the wintry afternoon of November 17th, 1980, a dignified group of people gathered in Tapiola’s centre for the unveiling of Antonio da Cudan’s sculpture, A Sketch from Space. The group included representatives from Tapiola 72, the society of local companies who had initiated the project, the City of Espoo, the Housing Foundation and other interested citizens.
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March: Ernst Mether-Borgström: Futura

”Constructivist art is based on colours and forms. It is pointless trying to seek natural motifs in Futura. I’ve tried to create the type of environment that best suits the modern world. It’s in tune with the times.”

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April: Heikki Konttinen: Morsian 1983
Caption: The unveiling of Heikki Konttinen’s Bride in October 1985; the artist’s last public work.
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May: Heikki Nieminen: Solar wind 1977-1980

”My starting point is nature and man.”

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June: Germa Huijbers’s Sea of Flags on Alberga’s Esplanade, 2003

Illustrating the Finnish summer, Sea of Flags was erected at the north end of Alberga’s Esplanade in Leppävaara, Espoo, in 2003. The work was commissioned by Espoo’s Technical Department, Cultural Centre and art museum, which became EMMA in 2005.

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July: Pekka Kauhanen, Art Policeman 2006

You can’t possibly miss Pekka Kauhanen’s sculpture Taidepoliisi (Art Policeman) (2006) when you’re coming to EMMA. It stands on a roundabout, showing the turning to the museum. It was commissioned from the artist for just this place, the new intersection, and was unveiled on the eve of the opening of the new museum on October 4, 2006. In my interview with Pekka Kauhanen on May 18, 2011, he told me how the idea came about:

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August: David Nash’s Ladder in Karhusaari

One of the works in the art collection of EMMA, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, is the Welsh sculptor David Nash’s Ladder (Tikapuut) on Karhusaari bathing beach. Nash (born 1945) is well-known for his huge, dramatic wood sculptures. It is not by chance that it was decided to locate his sculpture on the woody coastline of the Gulf of Finland. Nash visited Finland at the end of the 1980s when he participated in an exhibition of Welsh artists at Espoo City’s Gallery Otso.

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September: Sakari Vapaavuori: The Pioneers

The people of Laajalahti together had this Pioneers sculpture erected in gratitude and remembrance of the men and women who, after the Second Great War, cleared this land and built this village for future generations to dwell in.

Text on the plaque fixed to the stone next to the statue 
 
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October: Esa Laurema: The Light Prism

“At last the Light Prism works again!!! This has been a most challenging job. Sawing and gluing the parts of the vitrines and assembling the whole thing has been an almost impossible task. The job of assembling required precision planning and complex scaffolding. In the end it was successful. The result looks good – and there’s now plenty of light.”

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