Terhi Hursti, “Ode to Venice”

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Book closed

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Book open, view from the front

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Book open, view from the back

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Detail from the mini-paintings (6 of them)

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Detail from the photo with handmade gold from Venice (Mario Berta – Battiloro)

 


 
Terhi Hursti (Tampere, Finland)
bookart.fi

Ode to Venice
2015
Accordion book, photos, mini-paintings with sumi-ink and acrylic paints, gold from Venice
Unique work
Pages: about 22
Dimensions open: 155 x 560 x 1600 mm
Dimensions closed: 155 x 223 x 55 mm

My first visit in Venice was 2011 and Venice stole my heart immediately. So next year I went back and now I was there three weeks in the residence of Scuola Internazionale di Grafica.

Every day I walked around the city exploring for example Tintoretto and Tizian or looking architecture and the colours of the buildings. And every evening I spent hours in my studio at the school writing and drawing down all the things I discovered through that day. I wanted to find the soul of Venice. I felt like I was living in the painting where the time stands still.

My artist’s book is ode to Venice. I took off almost all the colours and people so I can show what the spirit of Venice is like. The shape of the work is kind of Grand Canale with two entries and going (or looking) one entry to another you can feel that spirit (from the photos and mini-paintings). You may not feel it all at once, you need to stop for a moment and let Venice come to you.