Pekka Ryynänen
Untitled, 1988
- Medium
- Watercolour and gouache on paper
- Dimensions
- 48 × 67 cm (image size)
Joseph Clark Collection · JCC-0070
About the work
An outlined triangle spans a field of muted green and grey. Its apex rises into a pale square, while a low blue arc rests along its base. These simple elements suggest different kinds of space: a flat arrangement of shapes, an architectural opening, or a distant horizon. None settles into a fixed scene.
Watercolour and gouache bring contrasting degrees of transparency and opacity to the visibly textured paper. The measured geometry sits against a surface marked by ripples, tonal variations and the movement of colour. This tension between formal order and material irregularity gives the work a quiet, unsettled presence.
Dated 1988, the work is signed with the initials ‘P R 88’ at the lower left. Bukowskis catalogued it as Untitled, with an image size of 48 × 67 cm. The reading offered here is the collection’s interpretation of the work.
About the artist
Pekka Ryynänen (born Helsinki, 1949) is a Finnish artist associated with geometric abstraction and Constructivism. His practice encompasses painting, printmaking and sculpture. He studied at the Free Art School in Helsinki from 1969 to 1975 and made his exhibition debut in Helsinki in 1976.
Ryynänen’s work belongs to a tradition in which relationships between colour, line and simple forms become the subject of the image. In the collection’s 1988 work, a triangle, a pale square and a low blue arc introduce a measured geometry, while the textured paper and subdued washes give those forms a less predictable material presence.
His exhibition history includes a joint presentation with Sakari Alanen, Carolus Enckell and Reijo Viljanen at Pori Art Museum in 1980, and an exhibition at Galleria Krista Mikkola in Helsinki in 1989, accompanied by a catalogue with text by Gertrud Sandqvist. He also taught at Helsinki’s University of Industrial Arts from 1983 to 1987 and at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts school from 1987 to 1990.