Finnish Donald Duck on display in Washington

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Finnish painter Kaj Stenvall, 56, brought the Donald Duck character back to the United States, when his Birdhouse exhibition opened at the Finnish Embassy in Washington last Thursday. On display are 36 oil paintings depicting the duck, nearly half of which Stenvall produced for this particular exhibition.
      Stenvall explains the meaning of the duck, which made its first appearance in his paintings in 1989.
     
"The duck is a universal symbol for mankind. It is part of the global library of images encompassing nearly all cultures. Everyone recognises Donald at a single glance, just like a Coca-Cola bottle, the shape of the Eiffel Tower, the McDonald’s arches, the Apple Computer logo, or, for instance, the hourglass on the computer screen."
      Stenvall sees Donald Duck, or Aku Ankka as he is known in Finland, as a medium with which it is possible to depict the world and the range of emotions felt by people. Donald returns to his country of origin not as a mere comic book character; now he has a sensitive soul.
     
Donald Duck does not have any special significance for the artist. What is important is the general human message that he communicates.
      "Instead of a duck, I could paint various human figures again and again, but the duck works better in my paintings than a human would. It is more easily adaptable to different roles", Stenvall says.
      Adding to the usefulness of a duck as a medium of expression is that in Stenvall's view, the duck is genderless, ageless, and has no race. It is simultaneously a bird and a human.
      At the exhibition he made an interesting observation of the American visitors.
      "The greatest interest was raised by works in which I have painted the duck dark. I never thought that the Americans would see the duck through their own culture, which includes race."
     
A black duck is not exceptional as such, because the duck is different in every work. "Sometimes I make it merely notional, so that the features of the duck are barely visible."
      Stenvall is certainly not alone in his use of the Donald Duck character. For instance, Olli Lyytikäinen produced his Ankkalinna ("Duckburg") series in the 1970s.
      American underground and pop-artists have been especially interested in using cartoon characters in their work.
      "They would pop up in the works of Andy Warhol and Roy Liechtenstein", Stenvall says.
     
The Birdhouse exhibition is open at the Finnish Embassy in Washington DC, 3301 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., until May 13th.


Links:
  Wikipedia article on Aku Ankka, the Finnish comic book version of Donald Duck
  Finnish Embassy website: BIRDHOUSE: An Exhibition by Kaj Stenvall

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