The name of the exhibition, Rough Cuts, refers to the processes of renewal and innovation that are inherent in the work of Samu Raatikainen. The artist is fascinated with expanding the language of painting and the risks therein, finding great significance in experimenting with new techniques and materials.

Raatikainen's exhibition in the Takkahuone Gallery comprises of large paintings that share a common theme of nature and its transitional states. This is echoed in the artists’ methods , which include a new technique of painting separate acrylic sheets, which are then transplanted onto the canvas to form a kind of collage. This gives the finished painting a unique threaded and fragile quality that would be impossible to achieve using any other method. The many stages of this process are guided by intuition, use the possibilities of chance, and refer to natures organic language.

Samu Raatikainen (born 1971) is a visual artist working and living in Turku. He spent the spring of 2018 working as an artist-in-residence with Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova. Raatikainen has studied at the Free Art School from 1991 to 1994 and graduated as a Master of Arts at the Chelsea College of Art & Design in London in 1997. His works have been displayed in collections that include the Pori Art Museum, Heino Art Foundation and Tampere Art Museum. Raatikainen was nominated as the Young Artist of the Year in 2003 and was one of the recipients of the Finnish Art Society's William Thuring Award in 2009.The Arts Promotion Center Finland has awarded Raatikainen an artist grant for a period of five years from 2019 to 2023.

The exhibition is presented in cooperation with the Arts Promotion Center Finland, the TOP Foundation and the Ministry of Education and Culture.