Janne Eloranta's unique wood sculptures in a unique exhibition in Laterna Magica's cellar gallery. The exhibition opens with a vernissage on Tuesday Feb 25th from 5-7 PM. Warm welcome.

Life giving death is an invaluable part of healthy forest. Forest seizes to be diverse healthy forest without decaying wood. We all have our own idea of a forest. What Is our idea of a forest? Is it a mere storage of valuable resources? Is there something in a forest that does not belong there?

We Finns consider ourselves a nature loving nation, as we live in "the land of forests". The amount of wood in Finland though is relatively low. European forests in Germany, Sweden, Poland and even France have more wood than Finland. This is mostly due to the low median age of forests in Finland, which is the lowest of all time, 44 years at the moment. There is very little, only about 1 %, natural forest left in Finland. Finland is a land of seedlings.

What exactly does our perception of forests or the use of forests have to do with my sculptures? My aim is to get people to re-evaluate their relationship with forests. Dead wood is a central material of my sculptures, it is as central to my art, as it is in a healthy and diverse natural forest. Through my art and sculptures I aim to bring focus on the complexity of forests as well as widen our perception of it.

I see wood as material as half-ready and the sculptures are defined by the forms already present. My task is to bring forth that which is already there in the wood. My sculptures represent forests in all their complexity. The sculptures are born in balanced interaction with nature. I wish to see more of this balance in our relationship with forests, and I aim to amplify that through my art. Let us use forests on the terms of the forests themselves.

See more on Artist homepage. https://www.janneeloranta.fi

Pictured above: Mennyt / Past (2020), pine, height 66cm

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