Prof. Arno Minkkinen of the Art Department has an international reputation as an innovative photographer whose self-portraits have been exhibited in prestigious galleries around the world. Now his work is being exhibited in a prestigious gallery virtually around the corner.
The premier venue for "Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Photographs 1970-2005" is the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln. The 120-print traveling exhibition that will be in the main galleries of the DeCordova from Sept. 10 through Jan. 8.
"I think this exhibit is significant," says Minkkinen, "because it is about me, rather than by me. The curators made all the choices."
As it turns out, Minkkinen is "delighted with the exhibit and the splendid way the DeCordova is handling it."
The exhibit, curated by A.D. Coleman and Todd Brandow for the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, is described as a mid-life retrospective, which Minkkinen finds optimistic.
"It's neat," he says. "It's optimistic in terms of my life span and the maturity of the work. And it assumes another 20 years or more of work. I'd be happy to be taking photographs into my 80s or 90s."
Minkkinen is also delighted with the book, Saga, published as a companion piece to the exhibit. The 168-page book reproduces all of the photographs in the exhibition and includes essays by Alan Lightman, A.D. Coleman and Arthur Danto, as well as technical notes and an annotated chronology prepared by the artist.
"This is a gift I've been given," he says of the book. "It is definitive. It's beautiful."
As a teacher, Minkkinen is pleased to have this exhibit close to Lowell because "students can view this exhibit of my work and they will see that these things are possible if you believe in yourself and work hard."
DeCordova promotional materials note that, "since the early 1970s, Minkkinen has been photographing his unclothed body in a wide variety of landscape and interior settings, from Finland to New England, from the American West to sites in Italy and France. These unmanipulated surreal and timeless black and white photographs are astonishing in the way Minkkinen maneuvers his body so that it echoes or seems to become part of the land formation."
Minkkinen explains that his work is about "our place in the universe and on this planet. I have tried to keep my work timeless. This exhibit is particularly interesting because you can have an image from 1977 next to one from 2004. I hope that the timelessness will separate mine from other artists' work."
Although Minkkinen's work is widely known in Europe, this will be the first exhibit that brings his photographs to various American cities. "Saga" is expected to travel throughout Europe and the U.S. for seven or eight years.
Minkkinen regularly exhibits at the Robert Klein Gallery in Boston and the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York. In 2000, his work was the subject of two public television pieces focused on contemporary artists: on a segment of the Public Broadcasting System's "EGG the art show" series and on the WGBH television series "Arts Close Up." Both programs continue to air on public television stations and the WGBH piece is shown as an accompaniment to the exhibit at the DeCordova.
On Thursday, Nov. 3, Minkkinen will be the DeCordova's Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lecture Series speaker, addressing "Arno Minkkinen and the Cathedral of the Universe." DeCordova's annual Paul J. Cronin Memorial Lectures were established in 1981 to consider topics that are broadly focused upon changing attitudes towards contemporary art. They are made possible by a generous grant from the Grover Cronin Memorial Foundation.
The lecture will begin at 6 p.m. Space is limited. Reservations are required. Tickets will be held at the door. Members of the DeCordova are $8/non-members $10/students with a valid ID $8. Call 781/259-3629 or e-mail membership@decordova.org to register.
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