“If we knew how to travel at the speed of light, our conception of time and space would change significantly, which goes to show that these are variable factors,” Matti Vainio explains how his works deal with the subject of changes and processes, dream and reality, the fusion of humans and the world surrounding them, and adaptation to time and space. “I am interested in the multi-layeredness of existence, and figurative art offers the best means for expressing this visually.”

The portraits depicted in the works convey the position how, at the same time as we are surrounded by objects in our external world, we ourselves are objects and are made up of parts. Vainio uses musicians and dancers, lines and arrows as symbols, endeavouring to visually represent time and space, the object and its movement, and the metaphors of cultural and belief systems. Inspiration for this has also been provided by the views of the biologist Robert Lanza and the physicist Bob Erman on biocentrism.

Matti Vainio (1978), who earned his Master’s in Fine Arts at Aalto University, is living and working in Estonia. His main media include drawing, painting, graphic art and performance. He has participated in exhibitions in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. The space generated in his creative output investigates the phenomenon of daily life and the possibilities the individual has under societal conditions; he sees art as an opportunity to practice meditative and philosophical thinking.

The exhibition Hyperspace will remain on view at Haus Gallery through 6 September 2016. The Gallery is open from 10 am to 6 pm from Monday to Friday and from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturdays.

See the selection of the works here