Created in 1999
Steel, 53 cm x 28 cm x 188 cm
Collection of the Kari Huhtamo Art Foundation
Kari Huhtamo: Buddy
There is good reason to see Buddy as an exceptional sculpture among Kari Huhtamo’s artworks. It is a construction in space made of thin steel tube, a line drawing that emphasizes the central function of form or outline in Kari Huhtamo’s art. Further, as the title suggests, it is not only unashamedly figurative but also downright playful.
Roughly human-size Buddy is at home indoors, in an architectural milieu. It is at its best against a smooth background, which makes both the material and its spatial and rhythmical characteristics stand out. Simultaneously, its undisguised figurativeness presents a natural counterpoint to the geometry of the surrounding architecture, which makes it a sort of bridge or projection surface between human beings and university architecture.