No Heaven up in the Sky

Artist Laura Könönen’s work No Heaven up in the Sky consists of roughly sculpted boulders of various sizes. Each boulder has one polished surface spray-painted with azure car paint, with the colour gradually changing from dark to light. According to the artist, the boulders form a puzzle of a kind – as if pieces of the sky had randomly fallen to Earth. In the work, the sky, believed to be eternal, and stone, considered an unyielding material, break into pieces. It can be seen as a metaphor for our world where established truths are breaking and changing.

In her works, sculptor Laura Könönen (b. 1980) reflects on the fundamental longing underlying our life and the absurdity of existence. She often uses stone – especially black diorite from Korpilahti – in her works. According to Könönen, stone belongs to a different timeline than the existence of an individual. For her, stone symbolises “silence without human presence after all sound has disappeared”.

The work belongs to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed and curated by HAM.