Markku Piri’s solo art show now travels Italy

An exhibition of glass and textile artworks and paintings by the Finnish artist Markku Piri is now on a tour to three Italian cities marking the Independence Centenary of Finland.

The exhibition launched on June 17 at the Museo Carlo Bilotti of Rome will end on September 17. The show will be held next at the Museo del Vetro of Venice from October 7 to January 7, 2018, after which it will move to the Museo del Vetro of Murano.

For the first time in its history, Museo del Vetro of Murano will host a solo exhibition of a Finnish artist.

Piri’s glass artworks have been recreated by some legendary masters of Murano and by a number of young talents of the Lasismi Cooperative in Finland.

In Rome, Finnish Ambassador to Italy Janne Taalas inaugurated the exhibition currently running at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Villa Borghese Park.

“This exhibition tour also celebrates the close cultural affinity between Finland and Italy. Markku Piri’s works show a strong influence of the Renaissance art and the unique cultural milieux of the exhibition cities,” the Finnish envoy told the opening ceremony.

Taalas said the works also demonstrate Piri’s deep respect for the centuries-old tradition of the Italian glass-masters.

“His strong intuition and virtuosity have impressed all of us who have worked with him in this project. His exhibitions build a bridge between two countries: a Finnish visitor may find influences and impressions of the Italian culture, while an Italian visitor may get a feel of something essentially Finnish.” the ambassador added.

A dialogue between colors and forms reinterprets archaic and architectural ideas that have influenced Piri during his travels and his artistic and historical research.

The artist focuses on achieving aesthetic harmony by designing and creating his glassworks with the utmost attention given to every tiniest detail from a desire to exalt the aesthetic potential of his chosen materials.

Almost clouded by the beauty of the glass pieces, two-dimensional silk-screen prints are also on display – from the ‘Shadow Dances’ - a series of tapestries created in celebration of the centenary, while other works contextualise the virtuoso’s Murano double filigree technique in a newly conceived form. Europe’s long history of glassmaking is strongly present in these modern glass works.

The exhibition is curated by the art historian Ritva Röminger-Czako.