30 Jan – 15 March 2015
This spring Design Museum Gallery shows exhibition of glass art by Laura Laine, one of the most widely known Finnish illustrators abroad. Laine’s surrealist illustrations of female characters have most recently been seen in an advertising campaign in the subway tunnels at Grand Central Station in New York. Instead of pen and pencil, the artist has now taken to glass, drawing with her material a multifaceted tale of life in the depths of the sea – The Wet Collection.
“The idea of working in glass came about when I was invited in the spring of 2013 to participate in a group exhibition at the National Glass Museum of Holland in Leerdam. I had been invited along with a group of other artists to interpret with new perspectives scientific illustrations by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel. In addition to myself, a few other participating artists had no previous experience of working in glass,” says artist Laura Laine.
Laine says that it was a unique experience. The glassblowers of the Leerdam glass workshop interpreted her drawings together with her and she became immersed in the intensive process. Laura Laine wanted to continue her exploration of glass after the exhibition. The Wet Collection is a series of works presenting life in the depths as simultaneously delicate, refined, grotesque and similar to a comic strip.
Laura Laine (born 1983) is a Finnish commercial and magazine illustrator and visual artist with her own forceful and recognizable style. In her illustration work, she is particularly known for her extended, girl-like figures based on the drawn line with their thin bodies, and full, billowing hair. Laine’s CV lists a great deal of work for international magazines and companies such as Vogue, Sephora, Elle, Zara, H&M, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Guardian, GAP and TheTelegraph. She has exhibited her work in the Netherlands, New York, London, Los Angeles and Helsinki, among other locations.
Laura Laine studied fashion design at the University of Art and Design Helsinki and she received the Young Designer of the Year prize in 2011.
Photo credits: Paavo Lehtonen, Osmo Harvilahti (The potrait).
