Hytti, Mika | Artist Register – Artists’ Association of Finland

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Helsingin Taiteilijaseuran taidelainaamo

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b. 1961, Virolahti

Visual Artist, Painter

In Mika Hytti’s paintings a bonsai tree is a metaphor for life

Bonsai trees are a recurrent feature of Mika Hytti’s (b. 1961) exhibition, which opens at the Cable Gallery on April 19, 2011. Trees and forests have been part of his paintings before. The stillness and power associated with them are present in his latest works. Out of this meditative silence a more powerful story emerges, a story of human emotions, one that touches us personally.

Hytti’s paintings take place on a (colour) surface, or rather they take place in a space. The surfaces of the paintings alternate between almost-black and a light, calming quietness. In one of the paintings a branch traces out the boundary between heaven and earth. In Under White, meanwhile, a conifer has been carved out of the white paint.

Everyone can see their own story in a bonsai tree, just as Hytti has made each tree individually. In Japanese Noh theatre a picture of a conifer tree is painted on the stage backdrop in front of which the actual performance and drama take place. The tree is thought of as a reflected image of an imaginary tree standing among the audience. In this centuries-old tradition the tree thus serves as a metaphor for a coming together around life itself.

Bonsai-tree branches are pruned so that birds can fly through them without harming their wings, but the roots are dense.
The opening of the Cable Gallery exhibition coincides with Hytti’s 50th birthday. He has worked at the Cable Factory for more than twenty years of his artistic career.

More info:
mika.hytti@kaapeli.fi