Passenger
2015
Solo exhibition, SIC, Helsinki
Passenger (Free Dictionary):
1. A person who travels in a conveyance, such as a car or train, without participating in its operation.
2. Informal: A person who participates only passively in an activity.
3. A wayfarer or traveler.
If the paintings in Timo Vaittinen’s last solo exhibition in SIC (Keys open doors, 2013) were like acid dreams seen in the corner of a trance club, some kind of earthy or homespun tones can be seen in the pieces in current exhibition Passenger. Yet we are not completely feet on the ground; even the title of the exhibition suggests that we are transiting or on the road to somewhere.
References to mystical or spiritual imagery and the aesthetics of new age can be found in the visual language. The psychedelia that is typical for Vaittinen binds everything together like a yarn that is glowing in the dark. Popular and fan culture references cross through the subjects and materials and I can even see some elements of kitsch. Overall there is some new humor and playful element in Vaittinen’s works. – Inkeri Suutari
