11.6–12.19.2026

Maija Luutonen
Solitaire

For her second solo presentation at NOON Projects, Finnish artist Maija Luutonen offers an intimate site-specific installation, consisting of paintings of various sizes on canvas and paper, as well as a collection of ceramic objects. The title of the exhibition refers to both the solitary card game and the experience of loneliness. The artworks in the exhibition were made in relation to one another, and together form a single, interconnected installation.

Luutonen has planned some of the rhythms of the exhibition from a distance at her studio in Helsinki, but the exhibition has taken its final form during the installation process at NOON. Her previous show took place at the gallery in early 2025, giving the artist more knowledge of the gallery space. The process with Solitaire is also marked by an ongoing dialogue between the artist and the gallerist.

In Solitaire, the paintings take their forms as large-scale canvases as well as paper-based, book-like objects. The large-scale canvases occupy the front space, while the backroom of the gallery offers a particularly intimate experience of Luutonen’s work on a smaller scale. It also brings the gallerist into focus, as some of the new pieces in the exhibition have been created for daily use at NOON. These sculpture-like ceramic objects include a cup, a toast rest, and an incense holder, providing support and care for the workday.

The backroom desk also serves as a platform for a selection of the book-like paintings. Taking an almost sculptural form, the books offer the viewer an intimate experience with the painting they are holding, and an opportunity to look closely and dive into the image.

Having a background in painting, but also textiles and fashion, Luutonen’s process begins with an intent rumination on ideas, thoughts, associative webs of references, and relations between her materials. Ceramics entered her practice about seven years ago, while her interest lies firmly in a fascination with images, and the gamut of associations and embodied memories or traces carried by them. The first phase of Luutonen's process involves weeks and months of slow thinking and is followed by a period of drawing plans, testing, and adjusting. After this unhurried beginning, the process shifts into an intense production phase, in which ideas and plans become finished works over a period of months.

Titles are an essential part of Maija Luutonen’s practice. She is constantly gathering words, expressions and sentences from song lyrics, books, films, magazines, and, particularly for this exhibition, NTS radio morning shows. The intriguing words are gathered into a long list, and sooner or later, the right title and the right work find each other. For Luutonen, the image and its title must explore the same topic or experience, each through its own means.

Luutonen’s work can, in a sense, be approached as painting in the expanded field. The artist paints layer after layer, often using meticulous stencils to create depth and dimension in the images. Even her large-scale paintings are made flat on her desk, with the reach of her body setting the limits of the work. As she sees it herself, her work doesn’t exactly follow a pattern or convey a “signature style” in painting, but rather the practice presents itself as malleable, ever transforming in relation to spaces and exhibitions.

A lot of Maija Luutonen’s work deals with the act and experience of perceiving the surrounding world. The paintings may be seen as condensed experiences of unravelling a perceived view or a visual detail from underneath, above, or perhaps from the inside out. Some surfaces may be blurred while others stand out in sharp focus. In Solitaire, perception becomes an intimate, embodied experience: an invitation to look closely, hold a painting, and spend time in the company of these objects.

Text by Elina Suoyrjö