“In the middle of the desert, with the pitiless blaze of the sun and the storms trying to empty everything out, there were also a few plants. Contrary to our mental images of them as a symbol of transience, those scarce little flowers became a pristine, life-affirming element.” – Ville Andersson

A photograph taken by Andersson in the desert of New Mexico, US in the last year was the starting point for this exhibition. “White Sands” the desert is the home of the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research project, which observes asteroids that pass close to the Earth. and also the place where the first nuclear tests in human history were carried out in 1945. the desert becomes timeless and placeless. Andersson is interested in such non-places, which are not just a matter of the absence, but also of the presence of absence. Not of that which is not there, but more a contemplation of what has been or what will be.
The idea was to incorporate concepts such as “consciousness to detail” and “Ma” that the artist who visited Japan repeatedly had been influenced and was brushed up after a residency at The Watermill Center in New York, now the exhibition will be opening in Tokyo.

The landscape images seem to be reproduced from his memory, the working process is perhaps a suspension of disappearance. The other element of the show, the human body and face, is created with a method “digital sculpture” called by Andersson, that is a sculpture in virtual space by 3D modeling software and ultimately been printed like photographs, and also drawn with ink and pencil that is his favorite. The genderless and supple figures seem to be in motion, and yet at the same time static. The works of Anderson move between dynamic and static, concrete and abstract, organic and inorganic. He combines various elements, such as delicate nuances, modest colors, understatement and ephemerality, and creates links between things.

The exhibition title is taken from the last sentence of the novel prize author Samuel Beckett’s novel Unnamable, “you must go on, I can’ t go on, I will go on.” . Andersson says that the phrase like mantras reflecting an environment, which is simultaneously tragic and comic. In Beckett’s works, the boundary line between the object and subject disappears and the identity of existence is denied. The quotation seems to imply the aspect of a human being living in the modern society that is more fluid and more eccentric than ever before.

Ville Andersson
Born in 1986 in Loviisa, Finland. Lives and works in Helsinki. Studied at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. He was named Young Artist of the Year 2015, the most prestigious award for emerging artist in Finland. Anderson is working with various media and methodology, and his works are engaged in a conversation with both the history of art and contemporary issues. His works were exhibited at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art(Espoo, Finland), National Art Center(Tokyo), Vitraria Glass + A Museum(Venice), Museum Weserburg(Bremen, Germany), The Center for Photography(Stockholm, Sweden), FOMU(Antwerp, Belgium). In 2018 he was elected as a residence artist at The Watermill Center (New York, USA). His recent projects include stamps for the Finnish postal service, tableware for the company Arabia, set-and costume design for a theatre play as well as creating the overall artistic look for a public facility. His works are in several public collections including Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, Amos Anderson Art Museum.

ARTIST PROFILE: Ville Andersson