Cocktails
Cocktails
The Yancey Richardson Gallery is pleased to present Cocktails, an installation of
photographs by Finnish artist Esko Mannikko. Exhibited internationally in venues such
as the Venice Biennale, the Sao Paolo Biennial, the Yokohama Museum of Art, the
Shanghai Museum of Art and the Tate Liverpool, this is Mannikko’s first exhibition in
the United States since 1997.
The exhibition is composed of work drawn from three recent series entitled Southern
Comfort, Flora and Fauna and Harmony Sisters. The images, most of which were taken
in Mannikko’s native Finland, are intermixed in an installation created by the artist to
suggest a narrative about life in a rural setting. As he describes it, “My installation is like
a village, composed of people, animals, buildings, still lives - all together." Mannikko
places his photographs in old found frames carefully selected to complement the details
or subjects of his images. He also uses the rough thrift store quality of the frames to
serve as an ironic reference to his backwoods origins.
Southern Comfort is comprised of interiors filled with discarded, abandoned objects and
nonsensical furniture assembled from odd bits of refuse. These objects and spaces
emanate a sense of history undercut with an ironic haphazardness. An avid outdoorsman,
Mannikko devotes a portion of each year to hunting and fishing. The small intimate
studies of dead birds and fish in Flora and Fauna pay respect to their subjects and the
cycle of life in nature. In Harmony Sisters horses and cows are seen up close and in
detail. Focusing on the texture of hair, the patterns of markings or tight shots of the
muzzle and teeth, the images are nearly abstract.
Recognized as Young Artist of the Year in Finland in 1995, Mannikko first gained
international prominence with his portraits of Finnish bachelors in the “Far North" who
epitomized a kind of loneliness and self-reliance. In 1996, he was awarded an ArtPace
international artist residency in San Antonio, Texas, where he photographed the residents
of two small Mexican American communities on the border of South Texas. An ongoing
series titled Organized Freedom focuses on abandoned houses discovered on walks
throughout remote parts of Finland. With twenty-five percent of the country
unemployed, the owners of the houses have, in the words of the artist, “locked the door
and walked away" leaving their rural life for the city.
Works by Mannikko have been acquired by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los
Angeles, Foundation Cartier, the Moderna Museet and the Malmo Art Museum, among
others. In April Mannikko was awarded the first Ordonez-Falcon International
Photography Award and he is currently the subject of a 100-piece retrospective at the
Kursaal Art Museum, San Sebastian Spain.
The gallery and artist are grateful for the support of the Consulate General of Finland.
Reception for the artist: Thursday September 7, 2006, 6-8 pm
YANCEY RICHARDSON GALLERY
535 West 22nd Street 3rd floor New York NY 10011
Hours: Monday - Friday, 10-6