Upcoming: Osmo Rauhala Confronts Ultimate Questions

Is everything just chance, or is life governed by some structure or memory which is capable of learning and of guiding us? Memory is a key component of our survival, but how can it be recharged? Can our inability to formulate a universal theory of life be due to the constraints of language?

Osmo Rauhala uses art to explore our ability to understand the reality we live in. In his paintings, Rauhala complements animal and plant symbolism with a pure world of abstract signs, pointing to the way we conceptualise and organise the things we see.

The nine-part series Game Theory is associated with the mathematical theory of the same name. The theory was first used in economics and has later also been applied to psychology and biology.

The visual inspiration of the paintings is the sliding puzzle, familiar from childhood, with one empty square and eight sliding pieces which have to be put in correct order.

The other group of works, Book of Life, takes as its theme the language used to describe our genetic heritage. The four proteins designated by the letters ATGC form an enormous number of combinations which govern the behaviour of cells. The structure of the DNA was discovered already in the1950s, yet the human genome still remains a mystery.

Opening in September, Osmo Rauhala’s show consists new paintings whose common denominator is the relationship between language, image and nature.

Satu Metsola

Osmo Rauhala, 28 Sep 2012 – 13 Jan 2013