Snow is delighted to present Animo, Niina Villanueva’s first solo exhibition at Snow. The Helsinki based visual artist presents a new body of oil paintings.

Vernissage
October 26
6 - 8 pm

Welcome!

Helsinki based visual artist Niina Villanueva works with painting and ceramics. In 2022 Villanueva was awarded the William Thuring Prize of the Finnish Art Association. Her works are included in the Saastamoinen Foundation’s collection at the Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA and have been on display, for example, at the Young Artists exhibition at Kunsthalle Helsinki, at Glasshouse Helsinki and at Heinola Art Museum. ‚Animo’ is Niina Villanueva‘s debut solo exhibition at Snow and in Berlin.

”Within the heart of emptiness, a vortex emerges, drawing you in with its captivating force. This vortex is a realm of equilibrium, where opposing forces find harmony. Neither defined as good nor bad, it's a realm of pure transformation, a dance akin to the flowing waters. Just as a conch's spiral leads to its center, this vortex carries you to a place of serene balance.

I etch a circle upon the earth, a sacred boundary marked with care. Within its embrace, I gently bury the shell, a silent offering to the sands. As time passes, I stand in patient anticipation. I hope these roots will open a gateway somewhere, where peace finally reaches us in return, I offer the alchemy of colors, my body, and this life. You gave the spiral of the shell and the twisted twist of the snake, and now I want to return them all.

Symphony of wings unfolds. Birds of varied hues and melodies descend, drawn by an unseen call. They gather, like curious guests invited to a secret ritual. With each delicate step, they approach the circle, their eyes curious, their hearts perhaps stirred by the shell's ancient whispers.

Nature's threads intertwine, connection forms between the terrestrial and the avian. weaving a tapestry of shared wonder. The circle on the ground becomes a bridge between worlds, an invitation that only the birds truly comprehend. Sacred ring in contrast to the flowing water below and its creatures the buried shell continues its slumber into the earth, I dig a hollow pit for verbina and the first plants. A crack of light opens, a new dimension. A place where everything is connected and every action carries meaningful consequences, plants rising from the earth, like gifts, form a tapestry, a tunnel through which I return to the beginning, to the end, to the beginning.”

text by Niina Villanueva

Curated by Susanne Johansson