JUSSI TWOSEVEN
Our World
10.8.2019 – 8.9.2019
Galleria Heino (Uudenmaankatu 16-20), Helsinki
I have completed several street artworks in Finland and abroad in the last few years. Our World is based on these works. The exhibition displays large animations of my street art (R.O.A.R.27, All City Movement 2 and Vulpes Vulpes) projected on the wall as well as some paintings from the series Travel Diary.
In the street art animation, each frame of the video depicts a real street painting. Some of the works are intended to stay in the streetscape as long as possible, while others have already been painted over or washed away. My animations with animal motifs reflect my stand for the protection of nature and our living environment. In the animations, forest animals such as bears, wolves and foxes become alive and invade the urban space. Thanks to the stencils I use, the movement of the animals seems natural even if in reality the works are of various sizes and created in different places.
I painted the large cityscapes in the series Travel Diary on site in the exhibition space when the gallery was closed in July. I used spray and acrylic paints with stencils that I made in advance at my studio on the basis of photos I’ve taken in various cities. In the large cityscapes, I used the same stencil technique as I use in my street art. The result is a kind of a picture diary with flashes of the cityscapes and sensations I felt when visiting these cities.
Jussi TwoSeven
Jussi TwoSeven (b. 1983) is a Helsinki-based artist with a background in street and graffiti art of the 1990s. Painting based on stencil technique has become his preferred medium. In addition to gallery and museum exhibitions, he has created numerous wall paintings in urban settings, the most recent one being Strix Nebulosa (2019), a large painting depicting the great grey owl on the facade of Flying Cinema Helsinki in Katajanokka.
The street artworks in the R.O.A.R.27 bear animation on display at Galleria Heino were painted in Oslo and Helsinki. In Oslo, he created the artworks by Akerselva river at the Nuart RAD art event (2017), while in Helsinki, he painted the works in Kannelmäki for the Upea18 art festival (2018).
The artworks depicting wolves in All City Movement 2 Jussi TwoSeven painted in various locations in Brighton for the Brighton Fringe arts festival (2018). One of the frames in the animation depicts an artwork he painted for the Of Wolves and Humans exhibition at Hamburg MARKK Museum (2019).
The street artworks depicting foxes in the Vulpes Vulpes animation were created in various locations in Mänttä for the Mänttä Art Festival 2019. In addition to the street artworks, the animation also includes a few paintings on canvas and paper. One of them is currently touring Australia as part of the Stencil Art Prize event. A large wall painting depicting foxes and a video by Jussi TwoSeven are also on display in Pekilo at the Mänttä Art Festival (16.6.2019 – 1.9.2019).
Sponsors: Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Frame Finland, the Finnish Institute in London
(Photos taken by Pertti Kärki)