Gallery Poulsen is proud to present Koti, the gallery's second solo exhibition with Canadian artist Martin Wittfooth. Koti, the Finnish word for “home”, provides the conceptual framework for this new series of works, where Wittfooth engages both method and subject matter in an intimate dialogue. The exhibition offers a personal reflection on the artist's own home while also expanding into a broader commentary on our shared home – the Earth. With roots in Finland, Canada, and the USA, Wittfooth uses his diverse experiences living in different parts of the world to explore themes both classical and contemporary, from the state of nature to humanity's relationship with the environment.
"Koti […] is the Finnish word for ‘Home’ and is catalytic to a few layers of the new series’ origins and meanings," Wittfooth says. "The new body of work takes a wide look at our collective condition – of our shared ‘home’ – and the precarious and uncertain state of neglect and disorder we find in the current era. Looked at more locally – through the lens of my own experience as a painter – this show also feels in some way like a homecoming: a return to themes and motifs and methods of painting that first intrigued me to explore in my work, but with a host of experience under my belt to see these new paintings to their full fruition."
In Koti, we are invited to reflect on the balance between civilization and nature – or the lack thereof. Through allegorical narratives, animal figures, and synthetic landscapes, Wittfooth creates a visual world that highlights nature’s fragility. His works open a door for us to contemplate what “home” means and how we relate to it. Beneath the surface of these images, a critical commentary emerges, with his works acting as a visual testament to humanity's imbalance in relation to nature. In Wittfooth’s paintings, animals take center stage as powerful agents within an otherwise uncertain human-made narrative, drawing on references to the artist’s earlier explorations of shamanism. These animals serve as a gateway for a deeper dialogue with nature – both the nature within us and the one that exists outside of us. In the shamanic symbolism, animals serve as icons possessing powers that can help us free ourselves from our current state. We are urged to critically examine the ideologies we live with – political, economic, or religious.
An example of Wittfooth’s use of allegory and symbolism to create visual stories can be seen in the painting Reflecting Pool, where a wild lion searches for its reflection in a dark pool of water, while subtle pipes hint at the lion’s survival in a polluted world. The sky is foggy and red-glowing. In another work, Shelter, Wittfooth shows us a nature-based mysticism, with a tiger seeking shelter under a tree near a pond. There’s an electric tension in the air, and we are left wondering whether what we see are embers about to ignite or a symbolic comment on the tiger's inner nature. In The Alchemist, a monkey takes on the artist’s role in society, reflecting Wittfooth’s own approach to casting a wide lens on our collective condition through his art. Since 2014, Wittfooth has been working to portray animals as shamanic figures, totems, or sacred icons, and we see a continued deepening of this theme in his new series of works.
Beyond the strong narrative in Koti, Wittfooth also comments on his subjects through his technical approach to oil painting. Oil painting refers to a long art historical tradition, one that includes the classical masters, 19th-century depictions of nature as sublime and elevated, and much more. Wittfooth draws inspiration from various generations of artists, including French naturalist Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), German symbolist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), and American portrait painters like Henry Raeburn, Thomas Lawrence, and the landscape painter Frederic Church.
Through his mastery of oil painting techniques and his choice of subject, Wittfooth places himself in a long tradition of masters who depict reality as they see it. However, in Wittfooth’s works, nature has been pushed into the background and stripped of its original power. There’s a sense of decay, where humanity’s careless exploitation of nature has left a world marked by pollution and plastic waste. One could say that in Koti, Wittfooth revisits themes from his earlier works, where animal figures appear as vital and powerful characters, in stark contrast to the selfish tendencies of modern society. Koti includes 10 large oil paintings, each carrying Wittfooth’s vision of a world in transition.
