Maritta Nurmi
Paradise #1
Acrylic, Silver, Aluminum leaf on Canvas
135cm x 100cm

Maritta Nurmi

March 14–May 6, 2003

Color of Moon: New Paintings from Vietnam

Sideshow Gallery is pleased to present the work of Finnish painter Maritta Nurmi, who has lived in Hanoi, Vietnam for the past nine years. This exhibition begins on Friday, March 14, 2003 and continues through April 6, 2003. The opening reception for this exhibition will be held on Friday, March 14, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The exhibition will include recent paintings by Nurmi infused with silver, which in the mythological world is the special color of the spirit world and of the moon. During Nurmi's nine-year-long journey in Vietnam, her paintings have undergone a total change.

"I wish for them to have a touch of the ancient, the intuitive and the passionate," Nurmi says. "In Buddhism there are said to be seven veils of illusion. As each is discarded, a person is said to understand another aspect of the true nature of life and self. To lift the veils makes one strong enough to tolerate what life is about."

Also, Nurmi says, "in Buddhism there is a questing action called 'nuybu,' which means to go onto the mountains in order to understand oneself and to remake one's connections to the gods. I am not a Buddhist, but these Buddhist ideas describe well my journey in Vietnam. I am here to lift the veils in order to become strong and also to climb onto my mountains to be with the gods."

Nurmi has exhibited her work in solo exhibitions at Laitila City Hall, in Finland, Nha San, in Hanoi, and Salon Natasha, in Hanoi. She organized the 1998 traveling exhibition "The Spirit of Hanoi," a collaboration of Salon Natasha, 18 artists from Vietnam and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, exhibited in Oulu and Helsinki, Finland. She has also exhibited work in group exhibitions at Salo Art Museum of Finland, Hameenlinna Museum of Finland, the House of World Culture in Berlin, Art Santa Fe in New Mexico and the Pacific Bridge Gallery in Oakland, California.

This exhibition of Nurmi's paintings is one of 10 of exhibitions of artwork by Vietnamese artists and artists based in Vietnam in galleries throughout New York City in March and April 2003.