Iso Galleria presents Garden of Eden, an exhibition of Turku Artist’s Association’s Artist of the Year 2024 Sini Kähönen.
Sini Kähönen’s works discuss themes such as humanity, femininity and carnality, and examine the interfaces between the body and the mind. Her aquarelles and oil paintings combine traditional symbols with modern imagery.
Garden of Eden opens a view to temptations – the meaty fruits of the paradise, inviting the spectator to grab and to bite. Among the fruits dwell the depictions of sin and flesh, and the exhibition is decorated with poisonous snakes, in all colors of the rainbow. The works balance between delicate and repulsive, and the repeating shades of pink lighten their tone.
The exhibition deals with letting go – the moment when life’s fundamental truths no longer hold, the faith falters, and the world as we know it is dislocated. The works take a close look at internalized beliefs and connections, using themes from the Christian garden of Eden and the opposition between heaven and hell.
The exhibition’s works take a stand on the narrative of paradise: who really is on who’s side, and why should we resist the temptations of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the first place?
Sini Kähönen (b. 1993, Jyväskylä, Finland) is a visual artist with a degree from Turku Arts Academy from 2018. Kähönen has worked actively with painting, and her works have been widely exhibited in Finland, eg. in Turku Kunsthalle (2024), Museum of Central Finland (2024), and Young Artists 2019 exhibition at Helsinki Kunsthalle.
