Riikka Latva-Somppi
I’m a visual and glass artist living in Helsinki, Finland. I work at the interface of applied and contemporary art using glass as her my medium.
In my actual work- as well as in the process of making - theory evolves to an experience, may it be intellectual, a cultural connotation, a small amused insight or simply a forgotten memory that reaches the surface in a viewers mind.
I love to watch molten glass flow: to feel its movement connect with the pressure in my lungs. Glass is so corporal, yet as a medium it has the ability to translate the immaterial.
My work often reflect the amorphous quality of glass in its physical sense as well as a notion of a substance between material and idea. A spontaneous, indefinite form may be solidified in precious gold, often perceived as traditional and perfect, even holy.
In my work Forever Yours a real gilded apple slowly transfers to a wrinkled dry golden fruit representing aging as well as promises of eternal love vowed by spouses but also by parents to their children. The gilded glass slice remains perfect, reminding us of the deceiving promises, when the lush form of a fresh apple is only memory.
Born 1969, Espoo, Finland
Education
1989-95 University of Art and Design, Department of Ceramics and Glass, Helsinki, Finland, MA
1992-93 Sheridan College, School of Craft and Design, Department of Glass, Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Awards
2010 Arts Council of Finland
2009 Certificate of Honour for Environmental Art in by Foundation for Environmental Art 2010 for Näktergalen Satakieli (Nightingale)
2007 The Finnish Glass Museum, Champagne glass design competition, 2nd prize
The Finnish Cultural Foundation 2007
1995 Kesko Oy, Pirkka-scholarship 1993 Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle,ME,US
1996 ,1992 University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland Several group grants
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 Petit-O, Galleria Norsu, Helsinki, Finland
2010 Arjen voima, The Power of Every Day, Akseli Gallén-Kallela Museum, Espoo
2009 OTTO, Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid
2009 Fruit Market, Nuutajärvi Glass Village, Finland
2008 R.ASIA, Copper smithy, Fiskars, Finland
2008 OTTO Artists-O introduction exhibition, Vantaa Art Museum
2007 Kolme = 三 (san), with Kazushi Nakada and Anne Raasakka , Järvenpää, Finland
2006 Remix, Copper smithy, Fiskars, Finland
2006 Laskettu aika, Linnoituksen krouvi, Lappeenranta, Finland
2005 Taidetta armosta, Malmi church, Helsinki, Finland
2004 Hajutatud Valgus III, Eesti Tarbekunsti- ja Disaini Muuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Rakas lapsi (together with Synnöve Dickhoff), Jorvi Hospital, Espoo Finland
1995 Preesens, Galerie Pelin, Helsinki, Finland 1995 Lupiininsiemen ja muita kokemuksia, Cygnaeus Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
Commissions
2009 Environmental art project Näktergalen Satakieli (Nightingale) commissioned to Arabianranta, Finland
Collections
Jorvi Hospital, Kesko Oy, Finnish Art Foundation, The Finnish Glass Museum, State Art Collection of Finland, private collections