‘Fragile Flower’ A Unique Ceramic Wall Sculpture, Pekka Paikkari, 2021

An impressive ceramic wall sculpture ”Fragile Flower” made by Pekka Paikkari in 2021. This art piece is in pristine condition and was acquired from the artist himself.

Pekka’s primary material of use is clay. In his own words, he was always fascinated by the way that ice cracks, and using clay gave him an opportunity to replicate that effect. In the production process of his sculptures, the clay is beaten, hit, shaped and molded by hand and other tools such as sticks and bricks and so on. The newly forming, still incomplete ceramic art piece is then let to sit for a while. The surface of the clay pieces start forming different cracks, which will in a way determine the intended final design. Then the clay is fired in the kiln, which will turn it into ceramics. Pekka describes this as “constructing a never ending story”. Slowly the final shape starts to flow through Pekka´s higher dimenssions and imagination, and the sculpture is completed. Although the sculpture might look fragile, that it is not, on the contrary, it is quite robust, durable and strong.

Pekka Paikkari (1960-) is a very established contemporary ceramic artist from Finland. Pekka has been a designer for Arabia and a founding member of the iconic Arabia Art Department Society since the early 1980s. Paikkari is well known for his sizable unique ceramic sculpures and other unique objects, as well as a number of monumental public sculptures that can be found in different locations in Finland. Pekka made a name for himself with his distinctive style and impressive technique. His works are found in a number of prestigious museums and private collections such as the Hostler Burrows Art Gallery in N.Y., the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Gifu Japan, the Faenza Museum of Ceramics in Italy, The British Museum, and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England, the Art Collections on the Finnish State, and the Kakkonen Collections, Helsinki, Finland.

Selected Bibliography:
1992 Timo Laiho, “Pekka Paikkari – Karborundum”, Finland
2006 “Pekka Paikkari: The Never-Ending”, exhibition catalogue, Turku Finland
2016 Heeney, Gwen, ed. The Post-Industrial Landscape as Site for Creative Practice: Material Memory. Camridge Scholars Publishing
2017 Wall Street International, “New Ceramic Artists”

Pekka has been awarded a number of grants and awards as well. And he has had more than 200 solo and selected group exhibitions locally and internationally.