Helena Pylkkänen: Gate Keeper, 1981. © Photo: HAM Helsinki Art Museum Portinvartija / Gate Keeper Artist Helena Pylkkänen Suomen Pankki, Unioninkatu 33, Kruununhaka, Helsinki The Gatekeeper of the of Printing House is a solid and humorous gnome-like stone figure, a guardian of a treasure house. The statue is surrounded by steps leading to it, simultaneously creating an impression of rings in water created by a stone post. The strong vividness and humorous details of the piece group it with Pylkkänen’s animal sculptures, elks and rhinos, and her small pea pieces. Although Gate Keeper is a large-scale commissioned piece, it retains a characteristic typical of Pylkkänen’s miniature sculptures – the integration of fragile and strong. The red granite Gate Keeper is also an installation for which the artist designed a yard plan with paving matching the surface of the piece and its base. The piece was completed in 1981. The work doesn’t belong to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed by HAM. Read more.. At map
