JUSSI NIVA WON CONTEST OF A PUBLIC ART WORK IN SWEDEN
One of Finland’s foremost painters, Jussi Niva, won a contest for a public artwork for the office building Kv Spektern in Stockholm, Sweden. The real estate company Vasakronan organised the contest and the winning work ”M in Us (Mondrianian Steps)” was finished in March 2010.
The work, which refers loosely to modernist Piet Mondirian’s body of work, examines the spatial experience of a two-dimensional surface. The work consists of paintings sunk into the wall and architectonic solutions, such as lighting, the structure and tone of the wall. In the hall the viewer receives the work by passing it by and walking through it. Niva is specifically interested in how we perceive the painted artwork in a moving situation and the narration that is created through experiencing it.
“M in Us” is the artist’s first public art work in Sweden. Niva has previously completed a public artwork in Finland, at the Vuosaari metro station in Helsinki.
Jussi Niva (b.1966) lives and works in Helsinki and acts as lector of painting at the Finnish Academy of Fine Art. He represented Finland in the Venice Biennale in 1993 and participated in the Carnagie Art Award exhibition tour in 2007. Niva’s works are represented in the most important Finnish collections, as well as public and private collections in Sweden.
Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary