Two Stones

Lanu Park in Lahti was built between 1989 and 1992. The city of Lahti commissioned a total of 12 sculptures from Olavi Lanu to be placed in the deciduous Kariniemenmäki forest. The starting point of the sculptures was the body of work Lanu created for the Venice Biennale in 1978, entitled Life in the Finnish Forest, in which he explored the relationship between humanity and nature in various ways. Cast in concrete at the Renkomäki gravel pit, the sculptures in the park imitate natural materials. Blending in with their surroundings, the sculptures were all sited by the artist himself.

Olavi Lanu (1925–2015) was a visual artist, teacher and prominent figure in the Lahti art scene.

Two Stones is a concrete sculpture spanning almost eight metres. It depicts two human figures rising up from opposing boulders, their foreheads nearly touching. Shackled to their boulders and holding their arms tightly to their sides, the two figures strive to touch each other but never quite succeed, which lends a tragic aura to the work. The models were the artist’s daughter Tessa and her husband Jussi. The stone bases were reproduced directly from real boulders. At the Venice Biennale, Lanu exhibited a fibreglass version of Two Stones, which departed from the concrete version in that the two figures’ arms were detached from their bodies.

Artwork on the map

In Lanu Sculpture Park. – Kariniemenpuistotie 49, Lahti.
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