The exhibitions for the Large Gallery at Turku Kunsthalle are chosen from the applications submitted through the Open call. The choices are made by the exhibition committee, which consists of members of the Board of the Turku Artists’ Association. The exhibition committee for 2023 and 2024 is Riikka Kupsala, Appe Leppänen, Salla Sillgren ja Niina Villanueva.
Riikka Kupsala is a visual artist living and working in Turku. Her work is founded on ideas in the sphere of time and space arts. Kupsala’s artistic expression is based on moving image, but she also uses elements of sculpture. Kupsala researches consumerism and the ecological and social sustainability. Currently she is researching her own participation by her clothing in the global ecological problems of the textile industry.
Appe Leppänen works with painting and installation. Currently her paintings focus on experiencing oneness with nature, hiking and sleeping outdoors. She works on installations as a part of the Rubuzak Artist Collective.
Salla Sillgren is a Turku-based artist, who operates broadly with various media. She is interested in leaving a trace, in randomness, in the everyday human condition, in how light hits the ugliness of the world and in staring out of the window into emptiness. In addition to her own work she and Appe Leppänen form the Rubuzak Artis Collective, which concentrates on experimental artistic research.
Niina Villanueva graduated from the Turku Arts Academy in spring 2021 and is currently doing her Master of Arts degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. She paints with oil paints and pigments on linen, and works with clay that becomes sculptures that have aspects of nature and metamorphosis. Her choice of themes is inspired by references to art history and personal intuitive meditations.
