EX CAPPA / TO GET OUT OF ONE’S CAPE

(Paintings about leaving)

A solo show in HUUTO! Gallery, Helsinki. 11.5. - 4.6.2023

Valtteri Kivelä’s new oil paintings deal with the theme of leaving and dreaming about it in many ways. At the exhibition, everyday life, symbolism and dream worlds get mixed up in the same narrative, in which the landscapes radiate emptiness or invite one to step into an unknown adventure. The strong colors and contrasts between light and shadows highlight the atmosphere in the otherwise ordinary views, and the lonely capes or cloths left in the empty landscapes make absence visible.

Escapism refers to escaping reality, an attempt to break the shackles of reality through dreams, drugs or art, for example. It can also be seen as a way of alleviating depression and sadness. The origin of the word helps viewers grasp Kivelä’s works.

The word ‘escapism’ is derived from Latin, i.e. EX and CAPPA.

Ex = out of, from

Cappa = cape, cloak

Originally, the term ‘excappare’ literally meant ‘to get out of one’s cape, leave a pursuer with just one’s cape.’ (Escape, éschapper, escapism)