Merja Ranki

Basic information

b. 1955, Helsinki – d. 2019
Sculptor

Artist’s Statement

Merja Ranki:

In the beginning I was filled with untold stories. Then, years later, the stories became louder and they crawled over me. I gave myself the right to let them breathe. I decided to honor my life. Be a storyteller, an artist.

This decision fills me constantly with intensive joy and satisfaction, harmony with all my passions.

I work with intuition, trying to free my mind from observing. The feeling of power with physical work and the search for the utmost variety of extremes fascinates me, from joy to grief, tenderness to cruelty, love to hate, all the life-supporting forces. I am inspired by materials. Concrete, glass, bronze, plastics as well as organic materials clay, textiles, wood have been an exciting adventure for me. In my latest works I have been combining reality and dreams and the conflict between them.
I aspire to humble honesty to make my works reach a state of being immediate mediums between experiences, a path between experimenter and observer, a key to feel movement in one´s mind, a pace, a sigh, a glimpse, a touch to ones humanity.
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Bio

Merja Ranki
Sculptress and ceramist Merja Ranki graduated from the University of Art and Design in 1998. The active artistic career with exhibitions of sculptures and installations in different materials started in 1981. Mastering several materials and being inspired by them the artist entitles herself as a material adventurer. In her works she combines the reality and dreams and the conflict between them. The visual characteristics of her works could be described as a smiling surrealism where conceptual art is served with laughter. On the other hand her works seem to have a happy resemblance of pop-art.
Merja Ranki works in the artist communities Studio ÖY ry in Kerava and in Studio METSO in Helsinki. During the last years she has been envolved with puplic art in Järvenpää, Helsinki and Vantaa city.