Blue Shop Gallery presents
Roy Aurinko
‘Territorial Behaviour’
3rd - 27th October 2024
72 Brixton Road, Oval SW9 6BH
Gallery opening hours: Wed - Sun | 11am - 6pm
Showing in London for the first time, Blue Shop Gallery presents Roy Aurinko’s solo show ‘Territorial Behaviour’. This brand new body of work from the Finnish painter explores ideas around boundaries and borders, inspired by a frustration with digital discourse, depicted in paint and mark pushed onto the surface. Aurinko explores contemporary themes of communication as a way to explore and further understand the ways we intuitively and defensively guard our thoughts and opinions. The chasm between all of our own human experience, the blank space between islands of paint.
“Debussy once wrote that music is the silence between the notes, and I approach painting in the same way. Even though my way of painting is crowded and frantic, its foundation is built on a quiet, negative surface.
For this new body of work, my starting point for my paintings was a double meaning: firstly, it started as a frustration with the internet discussion culture and, more broadly, with the overall narrowness and one-sidedness of everyday communication: people’s territorial behaviour in comment sections, unintentionally misunderstanding the clickbait headlines, creating an ‘us and them’ mentality.
Secondly, this territoriality resonated with new ways of structuring a painting compositionally. In my work I tend to blur the line between painting and drawing, using pastel and pencil marks to create painterly accents in my visual language. I started drawing boundary lines on the canvas, wondering if I should honor or defy them. I quickly came to the conclusion that I don't want to focus only on negative feelings, but approach boundaries, real or imagined, through curiosity. So, the starting point shifted from petty territorial quarrels to curiosity around crossing borders, developing more spiritual, even esoteric tones in the paintings.
In summary ‘Territorial Behaviour’ combines two literary images in the back of my head, Steinbeckian rugged mysticism and Italo Calvino's instruction: heavy matters should be handled lightly.” - Roy Aurinko, 2024
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Roy Aurinko (b.1972) lives and works in Heinola, Finland. He graduated as a Master of Arts from the University of Lapland in 2007. Aurinko's abstract paintings incorporate elements of drawing, and are created using a mixed-media technique combining oil, acrylic, pastel and cement. The work process and the feel of the material are present in Aurinko’s works. Often channelling childhood memories, Aurinko’s works aestheticise this subject, evoking emotions ranging from nostalgia to environmental responsibility. He draws from varied sources of inspiration, with literary and art historical references such as Greek Mythology and the concept of the sublime hidden in his abstract compositions. "A scientific approach undergirds my relationship to painting. It’s utterly beautiful how theories are put together, tested and certified in science. I’d like to think a similar kind of method applies to my artistic work. Observation, experimentation, analysis.” He has exhibited artworks in numerous group and solo exhibits across Europe and the United States. His works are currently held within significant private and public collections, including the Finnish National Gallery and Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva.
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Conclusion I, Roy Aurinko, 2024, oil, pastel and acrylic on canvas, 35 3/8 x 33 1/2 in, 90 x 85 cm
Conclusion III, Roy Aurinko, 2024, Oil, pastel and acrylic on canvas, 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in, 90 x 90 cm
Conclusion IV, Roy Aurinko, 2024, Oil, pastel and acrylic on canvas, 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in, 90 x 90 cm
Island I, Roy Aurinko, 2024, oil, pastel, graphite and cement on canvas, 25 5/8 x 19 3/4 in, 65 x 50 cm
EDUCATION
2007 MA, University of Lapland
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 Blue Shop Gallery, London UK
2024 Heavy Breathing, Simchowitz Gallery, Los Angeles US
2023 Utter rubbish hypotheses, Frans Kasl Projects, Eindhoven NL
2023 Analog Distortion, Jarilager Gallery, Cologne DE
SELECTED GROUP AND COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
2024 With These Eyes, Jarilager Gallery, Seoul KR
2024 Shelter From The Storm, Makasiini Contemporary, Turku FI
2024 Towards a theory of painting, Frans Kasl Projects, Eindhoven NL
2023 Here is my favorite place, Jarilager Gallery, Seoul KR
WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Finnish National Gallery
Heinola Art Museum
Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva