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A fascinating
survey of Maritta Tapanainen’s organic collages shows a
clear progression from a loose, more abstract format to the
densely populated surfaces of her recent work. Her
collages are painstakingly constructed with cut-out scientific
and technical textbook illustrations superimposed on a
background layer of cut paper. Like a biomorphic jigsaw
puzzle, all the pieces fit neatly together with such
compositional ease that the imagery flows smoothly. As
she writes, her tools and materials are simple: “books,
X-acto knife, archival wheat paste and rag board. I begin by
building a neutral-toned base to integrate the collage—and
commence to ‘grow-the-work’—wielding my knife like a
pencil.” She works within a monochromatic palette,
with delicate touches of tan and white illuminating her
collaged linear images. Certainly influenced by Jackson
Pollock, Joan Miro, Wassily Kandinsky, Roberto Matta and
Arshile Gorky in her use of over-all patterns and morphing
forms, she creates intricate interwoven tapestries of cut
paper.
By immersing herself in the Mojave Desert landscape,
Tapanainen developed an acute sense of observation, as the
smallest object captures her attention in that vast and
primitive land. Her work continues to follow an
evolution from general to specific. In “Central
Park” (1994), serpentine shapes are entangled in a
rhythmic motion of many layers. “Circle Forms”
(1994) is also conceived with a fluid abstract hand as
superimposed circles dominate the composition. “Ennustus”
(1999) combines her interest in more abstract forms with
detailed biological imagery.
In kind of a free-form ballet, her cut-outs move in and out of
a subdued geometric backdrop that acts like a curtain to her
linear dancers. A welter of shapes and imagery exists in
her collaged twilight zone: circles, crosses, targets,
biomorphic images that resemble intestines, a swatch of fabric
and a target. This floating schema of objects and
vaguely geometric forms also exists in another collage from
1999, “Kutsu,” where the images move in a stream of
consciousness that she manipulates with great grace.
Surfaces of
recent work are replete with detailed organic forms as she
digs deeper to create her internal environs. “In a
Dream” (2004) could be a surrealist air show run amok,
as strange objects dart in and out of her layered backdrop.
A propeller anchors the disparate items in reality, but
only tenuously. “Incubator” (2005) continues
this trend towards a foreground packed with eerie and odd
images. A fish even floats by and becomes a major
component in her lacy linear frieze of engineered shapes.
Most striking among these is “Big Bang”
(2006), where endless circles create a whirling matrix of
identifiable and endomorphic forms. Linear threads connect the
imagery like veins in a body, and the whole becomes a poetic
entity that defies reality. Tapanainen’s work
represents a modernist reversal. Frequently an artist
starts out with highly detailed work that loosens up over
time. She does the opposite. These obsessive
worlds of constructed imagery in all of their magical detail
have steadily gained in complexity and refinement over time.
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