Vintage Arabia Finland Collector Christmas plates 1991 Clockmaker & 1992 Violinmaker by Pekka Paikkari
Pekka Paikkari Finnish, b. 1960
Pekka Paikkari is an artist who has been a member of the Arabia Art Department Society in Helsinki since 1983. He is known for his large - scale wall sculptures, his unique sculptural objects, and monumental public works. Paikkari utilizes clay as a flexible material to express the human presence within the history of time. Paikkari’s works overlap the worlds of fine art, design, and traditional craft, inviting a dialogue with the viewer around the essence of the human condition. Paikkari regards the clay as a unifier between his artwork and the viewer, both presenting and keeping a history within itself.
Paikkari has made a thorough study of the technical properties of clay and uses it in quite surprising ways. Although the web-like, fractured surface of dried clay is the outcome of a natural process, Paikkari controls it in order to obtain the desired pattern, using a specially developed technique. Only then are the clay elements fired in the kiln. The process could be described as a controlled accident. Paikkari places particular emphasis on leaving the marks of his hands and tools on the clay, bringing the act of creation closer to the observer.
Pekka Paikkari is internationally recognized and his works are found in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Ceramics Museum of Barcelona, and the Shigaraki Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Japan, among many other public collections. In 1989 he was awarded the III prize at the Helsinki Fair Ground Art Competition and in 1993 he was awarded the International Biennial of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy (Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Ravenna). Recently Paikkari was invited to participate in the exhibition “Ceramics Now: The Faenza Prize is 80 Years Old,” a special 60th edition highlighting international masters and emerging artists working in ceramic at the Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche in Faenza.