Sami Havia: Estranged

The end of summer. That atmosphere when everything warm and delightful equates with melancholy, yet it’s melodious in its undertone. The early spring with its very own color scale and ruthless light. That is what I have wanted to concentrate on: light. How it reflects on ambience and how humidity affects the refraction of tones.

I have been observing. The way one monitors when all trappings of one's social life have been removed. I have made surrealistic observations connected to reality. I have noted characters that seem to be distant and hidden, objects of observation and, simultaneously, observers themselves. I have been scrutinizing alienation.

A desire to talk with nature rather than with other people. 

-Sami Havia, 2022

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Massey Klein Gallery is pleased to present Estranged, a solo exhibition of new paintings and drawings by Sami Havia.  The exhibition will be on view from September 2nd through October 8th. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, September 10th from 4-7pm.  This is the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery.  For press inquiries or questions regarding works available, please email info@masseyklein.com.

Estranged presents a new collection of paintings from Sami Havia that explore the relationship between the abstract and figurative with a focus on light and observation.  Surrealist in nature, Havia's paintings are accidental yet deliberate.  The seven new paintings and nine drawings presented in Estranged are pictorial representations of Havia's phantasmagorical observations rooted in reality. Each painting is a mutation of the artist's pictorial mind map, imagination, and subconscious. Some paintings contain figurative elements shrouded in absurd and abstract environmental elements, while others present identifiable human figures, absorbed into landscapes and escaping reality with an accentuated playfulness. Havia's work presents viewers with scenarios where the artist and his imagined figures simultaneously take on the role of observer, encouraging the viewer to escape into the playful landscapes of Havia's ethereal compositions, linger in contemplation, and lose themselves in reverie. 

The resulting works are melancholic yet melodious, a compelling tone born out of light, forms, movement, and colors, though carefully selected by the artist, allowed to grow and develop unconstrained as if living beings.  His work invites the viewer to join as an observer and to revel in each scene, conscious of both the attempt for complete control and the deep desire to release.

Sami Havia graduated with an MA from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2011. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions at cultural institutions across Scandinavia, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma (Helsinki, 2020), the Exhibition Laboratory at Uniarts Helsinki (2018), the Jyväskylä Art Museum (Jyväskylä, Finland, 2017), Fullersta Gård Art Gallery (Huddinge, Sweden, 2016), Lapinlahti Lähde (Helsinki, 2016), the Hämeenlinna Art Museum (Hämeenlinna, Finland, 2016), the Salo Art Museum (Salo, Finland, 2015), The Aine Art Museum (Tornio, Finland, 2015) and Pyhäniemi Manor (Hollola, Finland, 2015).  The artist has been subject to multiple solo exhibitions in Helsinki, including shows as Gallery Halmetoja, ARTag Gallery, tm•gallery, Korjaamo Gallery, Gallery FAFA, and Myymälä2 Gallery, and was included in his first North American group exhibition at Massey Klein Gallery in New York City in 2020. The artist and his works have been featured in numerous print and online publications, such as Around Journal, EDIT, Chicago Reader, AS|MAG, and VICE. Havia’s paintings are drawings have been placed in prestigious private and public collections internationally, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Finnish State Art Deposit Collection, the Saastamoinen Foundation, the Galerie Anhava collection, the Hämeenlinna Art Museum, the Vantaa Art Museum, the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts collection, the Keva collection, and the Seppo Fränti collection, to name a few. The artist lives and works in Helsinki, Finland.

Massey Klein Gallery is located at 124 Forsyth St. New York, NY 10002. Gallery hours are Thursday - Sunday 12pm-5pm.  To schedule a private viewing, email info@masseyklein.com.

The Gallery expresses our gratitude to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for their generous support of the exhibition.