Maisa Majakka: After party
Snow is delighted to present After party, the Finnish ceramic sculptor Maisa Majakka’s (b.1989) first solo exhibition with the gallery and in Germany. The artist is known for her expressive stoneware sculptures that are inspired by personal experiences. In After party, Majakka shows her characters in intimate, familiar scenes and states, still wearing the party. The stories are told in sculptures, wall tiles, and in an installation of real-life-sized small works. The rich details in Majakka’s work breath playful cues evoking our memories.
The balcony glazing had been left open, and snow had piled on the floor. I found an empty bottle of cheap wine in the shoe cabinet, lipstick stains on the hallway wall, cigarette grounds on the kitchen table and a chewing gum glued to the window. Hints of the party lingered in the apartment. I could only imagine what the 16th birthday festivities held in my home had been like.
At the same time, in my own adult life, the weight of celebrating has started to shift towards the next day. I brew ginger potions so I wouldn’t be so sick the following morning. I always remember to order water between drinks and I only drink beer from glass bottles, never from the tap. My friends are leaving parties ever earlier, because they have something important to do the next day. The messy liminal state of an after party feels like something that used to happen in the past. Still the tempting formula for liberation stays unchanged: wanna go grab a beer?
What I miss the most is how we used to wake up scattered and half-clad in the same apartment, how we started to slowly remember everything that had happened the night before. All the adventures and heartache and funny things. The night had been so long and so short at the same time. Now it had vanished as if all it had been was just a strange, fleeting dream.
- Maisa Majakka, August 2022
Curated by Susanne Johansson
Maisa Majakka (b.1989) is a Finnish ceramic sculptor based in Helsinki. Majakka’s hand built stoneware sculptures are essentially autofiction, based on personal experiences and human encounters. Her work focuses on subjects such as companionship, identity, mundane freedom and ambivalent emotions. Majakka’s most recent works have been inspired by experiences of idleness in the lives of young adults.
Maisa Majakka has previously held solo exhibitions at Galerie Forsblom Helsinki, Galleri Ekely Copenhagen and ArTag Gallery Helsinki. Majakka has participated in several group exhibitions including Finnish Academy of Fine Arts’ MFA show in 2020, Vantaa Art Museum, and MKC Gallery in Split, Croatia. Her work is found in public and private collections, including Helsinki Art Museum HAM, Vantaa Art Museum, HUS, the Päivi & Paavo Lipponen Foundation and Finnish Art Society (2018 & 2020.)
Maisa Majakka’s solo exhibition After party was supported by Arts Promotion Centre Finland & Frame Contemporary Art Finland. Thank you!