Mari Sunna

The young Finnish artist Mari Sunna deals with the condition of the human soul and also extreme states, in her figurative paintings. The main focus of her motifs and her use of colour, in these at times grotesque and apparently fragile figures, is strangeness, fear and the unconscious, but also joy and exuberance. Some of the tense bodies seem on the verge of explosion, other soft, fragile shapes seem to float, their tender faces swimming across the surface of the painting. To achieve this variety and the fine graduations of these emotional states, Sunna uses a powerfully expressive, almost eruptive style as well but also a very soft style that avoids the use of impasto. This catalogue accompanies the first solo exhibition of the Finnish painter Mari Sunna in Germany.