Maritta Tapanainen at Couturier

I had a gallery trifecta this weekend - three openings, three GREAT shows. I was a kid in a candy store (aside from the driving-all-over-LA part. Oy.). I'll start with the Maritta Tapanainen show at Couturier Gallery.

Somehow, this was my first time to Couturier. I'm familiar with their work, mostly from their booth at the LA Art Show. They always have some wonderful pieces by Jorge Marin, an incredible sculptor from Mexico. His figurative bronze works are so poetic and beautiful.

But on this night, the featured artist was Maritta Tapanainen, a collage artist (*over simplification alert*) from Finland. I'd seen her work on the gallery's web site and just had to see it in person. Tapanainen works in hazy, dreamy black, white, gray and earthy tones, meticulously piecing together, in her words, "extractions cut-out from plant forms, microbes, organs, and obscure mechanical objects." A viewer can easily get lost in her work, staring at a single piece and deciphering what each little component could possibly be. This work Kutsu, from 1999, is a perfect example: somehow at once organic and mechanical, and altogether hypnotic. The show is up through May 26.

More to come on the other two shows...