Mari Metsämäki (b. 1971, Turku) is visual artist from Turku. She draws, paints, sculpts, sews and photographs works and performances made for camera. Metsämäki produces works in forms defined by herself, which she takes pragmatically: there are layered paintings, pocket paintings, pierced cards, wall books and other types of works. As an artist, Metsämäki does not so much focus on the marketing of her art in the contemporary art field but rather on taking her art to ordinary people by presenting her work in such places as market squares, fairs and low-profile galleries.
Mari Metsämäki has worked as an independent artist since 1995. She studied at Turun School of Drawing 1991–1995. Later she complemented her studies with an AMK degree at Turku University of Applied Sciences and at the Academy of Art and completed her master's degree in 2012.
Metsämäki has held nearly thirty solo exhibitions and participated at multiple group exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Her work was especially influenced by the six week working period in Accra, Ghana, 2008. Currently Metsämäki works in the Parrantie studio home of Turku Artist's Studio Foundation. One of her most known works is Kuivuri, which was featured in the Nuoret 2006 exhibition at Helsinki Kunsthalle and acquired by the collection of Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art. In 2012, Metsämäki was chosen the artist of the year by Turku Artists' Association.
In the event Là-bas→ Self as the Third, Mari Metsämäki is presented by a retrospective, which concentrates in showcasing Metsämäki's personal visual language from her early work to the present day. The retrospective consists of four parts: a video compilation of early previously unreleased performances and drawings (1990–1997), three-dimensional paintings (2013–2017), aperture cards (2012–2014) and a part of a series of altarpieces Helvetti (Hell) completed this year (a work that was not accepted to a collection ordered by the Lutheran Parish of Turku). The video compilation of early works is compiled and edited by curator Jenni Luhta.
Self as the Third
