Appe Leppänen | Oblivion

Year2024
MediumOil on linen
Size50 x 40 cm
Categories

Appe Leppänen (b. 1982) is a visual artist living and working in Turku, whose main means of expression is painting. In her works, Leppänen discusses the experiences of connection with nature from a personal perspective. The paintings depict enchantment, the unification of a living landscape and a mental state. The paintings mix mental images, sensations, fragments of memories and images emerging from the collective consciousness. One important element in Leppänen’s paintings is water, which she describes as reflecting, immersing and changing its colour and shape. Leppänen graduated as a visual artist from the Art Academy of Turku Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. Leppänen’s works have been acquired for the collection of the National Works of Art Commission, the National Gallery and for the lottery prize of the Finnish Art Association. She has organised several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group and joint exhibitions in Finland.

“In the body of work I made for the Versot exhibition, I started from concrete sprouting, sprouting and the signs of spring. For example, in the work Germination, I discuss the moment before the seed germinates. The seed has the intention to grow into a thriving, vibrant plant. Its invisible aura contains a slow but unstoppable force or will that is associated with growth. The work Unhola describes a space where there is no defined time. There is only groping towards new energy, water and light that are in the endless cycle of nature, not just here and now. In the paintings, the signs of spring progressed to meanings, symbols and omens related to freshness and brightness. In my works, diamonds and palm trees contain a spark of light and longing for the unreachable.”

Appe Leppänen