If these are our heroes, 2018 / plaster on wood / 210 x 170 x 20 cm The Fall, 2019 / Latex, resin, steel, plastic / 143 x 148 x 18 cm Kekkonen I, 2019 / plaster on wood / 31 x 21 x 15 cm Kekkonen II, 2019 / plaster on wood / 31 x 21 x 15 cm Kekkonen III, 2019 / plaster on wood / 31 x 21 x 15 cm Kekkonen IV, 2019 / plaster on wood / 31 x 21 x 15 cm Confined Space, 2019 / Latex, resin, steel, plastic / 58 x 84 x 32 cm Detail
Jani Leinonen
If these are our heroes who needs enemies
January 18–February 10, 2019
Zetterberg Gallery is pleased to open the exhibition programme of 2019 with Jani Leinonen’s solo ´If these are our heroes who needs enemies´ on January 18th.
Leinonen’s exhibition questions why certain hero-statues still stand in the centers of the European capitals, and why so many do not know – or if they know – subvert – the unspeakable atrocities of some of these historical figures?
The works in Jani Leinonen’s exhibition consist of about two hundred scattered hero statues of different sizes. There are more than 160 sculptures in the main work of the exhibition – even some Finnish heroes fit in.
Leinonen’s exhibition draws our attention to the collective loss of memory that those heroic descriptions maintain: they wipe out the shocking acts of the rulers of history and replace them with sacrificial heroism, romantic adventures, and noble generosity. The exhibition speaks of unobtrusive but effective ways of building and maintaining social power – also through art.