Shared Dreams

Exhibition at Oulu Art Museum 5 October 2019–26 January 2020

Image © Heino Art Foundation

Adel Abidin, Petri Ala-Maunus, Ville Andersson, Elina Brotherus, Eeva-Riitta Eerola, Erno Enkenberg, Anna Estarriola, Susanne Gottberg, Alvar Gullichsen, Bo Haglund, Ilkka Halso, Markus Heikkerö, Tiina Heiska, Niilo Hyttinen, Petri Hytönen, Alpo Jaakola, Minna Jatkola, Anita Jensen, J.A. Juvani, Pekka Jylhä, Anssi Jääskeläinen, Otto Karvonen, Pekka Kauhanen, Markku Keränen, Markku Laakso, Ilkka Lammi, Jani Leinonen, Juhani Linnovaara, Pekka Luukkola, Susanna Majuri, Elina Merenmies, Jarmo Mäkilä, Jussi Niva, Sami Parkkinen, Tamara Piilola, Marja Pirilä, Markus Rissanen, Stiina Saaristo, Charles Sandison, Kim Simonsson, Mari Sunna, Iiu Susiraja, Päivi Takala, Pasi Tammi, Antti Tanttu, Anne Tompuri, Miikka Vaskola, Kari Vehosalo, Viggo Wallensköld, Henry Wuorila-Stenberg.Image © Heino Art Foundation

The Heino Art Foundation collection is one of the foremost collections of contemporary art in Finland. Acquired by Mr Raimo Heino, Mrs Raini Heino and their son Rauli Heino, an art historian and gallery owner, the collection comprises more than 1,400 works of art by 223 artists dating from the 1950s until present day. Mr and Mrs Heino made their first purchases in the 1970s and the collection, which mainly features contemporary art, has continue to grow rapidly over the decades since. The acquisitions have been informed by the owners’ shared tastes and preferences.

Due to its size and diversity, the collection offers curators vast scope for creativity. At the Oulu Museum of Art exhibition, the focus of Shared Dreams - Works from the Heino Art Foundation collection will be on “surrealism”, although none of the featured artists or their artworks are generally considered to represent the movement itself. The exhibition takes its cue from Vladimir Nabokov’s observation that the word “reality” is meaningless without quotation marks. Artists are masterful at taking “reality” and re-creating it, stretching and bending it and sharing it. The featured works, by 50 artists, are an opportunity for visitors to dive into a veritable ocean of strange and wonderful visions and imaginings and to leave everyday life behind, as surreal as that too may at times seem.