JYVÄSKYLÄ, FINLAND.-The Alvar Aalto Museum presents Desire vacui - Tyhjän vuoksi, on view through October 2, 2005. This is an exhibition of paintings by the architect and artist Kaisa Soini (born 1966), which date from the period 1994-2004. The pictures reflect on the links between architecture and painting, which, in view of Soini's background, have been a key issue in her work. The paintings have to be interpreted from both viewpoints – as paintings in themselves and as paintings about architecture.

Paintings from four series of works from the last ten years have been selected for the exhibition. The series Geometry of rust, which has been done in pigment technique, refers to wall fragments. The series The Tapiola Church details, which are based on actual architectural drawings, have been done using an adapted fresco technique, while the earliest series of works representing the constructional designs for The X Church are done in the form of pastel drawings. Desire vacui, the latest series of works, eponymous with the name of the exhibition, is in mixed technique and materials.

"I plaster, scrape, brush, rub, hammer and touch up with great care. The painting equipment, which often includes construction tools, leaves its mark, too. All this hardens the surface of the painting so that it becomes a second skin through which I hope I can breathe subconsciously," writes Soini. The materiality of the paintings is tangible. The surface seems to change from a velvety matt to a shiny metal. Depth and distance emerge from the overlap of surfaces and colours, or from surface and colour taking the measure of each other. In places, the paintings are like takes of different wall finishes, showing the wear and tear of time. Corrosion and convulsion have caused the surface to become sensitised.

Examining the essence of light, shade, space and surface is a key element in these works. Seen and unseen meanings become omnipresent: "Art makes us wonder about the things we cannot understand or explain. It satisfies our need to come to terms with the unexplainable and our need to leave everything unexplained. We can keep silent about the things we cannot talk about," says Soini reflectively.

The DESIRE VACUI – TYHJÄN VUOKSI exhibition is linked with the Architecture + Art Conference arranged by the Alvar Aalto Museum and the Alvar Aalto Academy to be held in Jyväskylä on August 12-14, 2005. There is also a publication of the same name in which Kaisa Soini writes about her work and her ideas about art. As well as reproductions of the works, the publication includes some reflections on the background behind them.