Finnish artist Kaarina Ormio
born 1968. Lives in Helsinki, spending 5 months in Kunming Works with different medias for the same theme, where the fairytale princess tends to appear in one way or another.
artist statement:
I work with the theme ‘chinoiserie’. This historical art style from the rococo time means
European eager for the Chinese based on exotic fantasies. The Finnish Chinese-translator Pertti Nieminen has said about ‘chinoiserie’: “The fairytale ‘The Nightingale’ of H.C. Andersen was as good an information as decorative pictures on English porcelain plates.”
In Kunming I sow ‘Chinese princess dresses’ that are based on my European fantasies, they are a mixture of the European and the Chinese. They are also real, wearable dresses.
I have worked with different media like performance, book, film, installation, dresses, but mostly for the same theme, where the traveling fairytale princess always appears in one way or another. She is like a western explorer and imperialist, but in a mild and a bit playful sense. I try to sow the ‘Chinese princess dresses’ on the basis of the local taste with a wish to conform with an unfamiliar culture. When conquering a country I also become conquered myself. By sowing a dress in a strange country and dressing up in it I try to get inside the strangeness.
Kaarina’s solo exhibition at TCG Nordica
Kaarina Ormio at TCG Nordica’s studio.14 Dec 2007
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