Wanderlust

Electrogalvanized steel, sealskin boot

35x32x18 cm

Property of the artist

The relationship between natural phenomena and technologies is an ongoing subject of exploration for me. I am inspired by the rough wilderness of mountains as well as by urbanization. My work tells about the commodification of nature, the quest for raw materials and the symbolical and allegorical aspects of natural phenomena.

I explore topics which deal with history, world politics, ecology, tourism and aesthetics. My artistic practice is rooted in the places in which I live and work. I observe the surroundings keenly, often involved in long walks.

In my works, I often utilize second-hand objects. Materials and objects are in a way historical and political archives – they have a past and a context into which they were made. The structures I create of steel and salvaged materials such as old leather coats or shoes have a reference to industrial processes and the global economy. Garments are made and shipped all over the world, at a low cost. Sold for an inexpensive price and then they end up in the dumpster, or maybe as material for an artist. I think about how scrap steel travels around the world, on the way to where it is processed and re-made into steel.

I juxtapose two worlds depicted in my works – the natural and the manufactured world. We are dependent on both of them. I reshape and redefine meanings, within the beauty and the contradictions of mundane materials and objects which constitute the world in which we live in.

19 years old Kara Luhtanen has studied abstract painting from 2002 to 2016 in Annantalo Art Centre for Children and Youngsters. She will graduate this spring from Rudolf Steiner School and was accepted for four years undergraduate Art Direction -program in Polimoda, Firenze. She will start her studies in Firenze in October.

Kara’s art has been shown in several group art exhibitions in Finland. Her paintings have been sold to private collectors and investors.

Biennale Arte Dolomiti is the first exhibition outside Finland where her art is exhibited.