Sometimes I start the process without any thoughts and sometime I have a theme or questions that start the painting process. A theme 2009 had to do with human weakness , were I presented the seven deadly sins from my perspective. Fear and dance-seven deadly sins. Fear is what makes people hate those who are different. We all have the same weaknesses. Through the paintings I wanted people to recognize the feelings inside themselves. Seven deadly sins, sins that everybody carries inside. Rasists think they don´t. "Those people are greedy and lazy-not me".
Why do people and animals play? Where do we play? How is it that even birds and otters play?
Play can be described as something that is at the same time imaginary, serious, dynamic, relaxing, creative, serious, and fun (Arja-Sisko Holappa, Jonna Kangas, and Kati Costiander, The Nature of Play, Blog 2019). Play is considered necessary for a child's emotional, social, and cognitive development.
All young animals play, and many birds do too. For example, the raven is known for its mating play where the males perform strange flips in the air. Ravens have also been seen sliding down hills on their backs, similar to otters which have been seen sliding down snowy slopes and in water during winter.
In post-war Finland, there was a whole generation that grew up in the ruins of the war. When I ask my 82-year-old mother if she remembers playing as a child, she remembers all the games in detail. In particular, she remembers how she and her twin sister played outside in nature after the war, at a time when their father had died and their mother was depressed after the war and her older siblings had just come back from Sweden (where they were war children). Perhaps they played to create a safe home in post-war Finland. This feels especially relevant now with a war in Europe again.
I wanted to make paintings that move between different worlds of play, but also to play my way through. I have approached play by working with new materials such as glass and ceramics. And also by painting on new materials and in new ways, letting the color play with the canvas. The canvas itself became a part of the paintings, and I thought about my grandmother who embroidered while we children played. With glassblowing and ceramics, I sought the joy, strength, and magic of play anew. Glassblowing gave me a completely new perspective on color, shape, and light. Especially light gained a new dimension. Ceramics, on the other hand, led the painting to more of a material feel and a more physical painting. Some of the paintings became like spaces for play. Perhaps the hope of the future lies in play.
I want to express my deep gratitude to ceramic artist Airi Hortling "your ceramics have inspired me as well as all our lovely art conversations over the years!". Thanks also to Grönqvist Foundation, Swedish Cultural Foundation, and Nygren Foundation which made the exhibition possible.
Thanks also to everyone I have played with over the years!
It has been said that all the artists need a muse. A muse who helps the artist to
meet his or her own fears, memories and inner passion.
In the greek mythology the goddess of memory Mnemosyne was the mother of
the nine muses. The nine muses of mythology were strong goddesses who could
give or take away the ability to create.
Clio- the muse of history, Euterpe- the muse of lyrics, Thalia- the muse of
comedy, Melopomene- the muse of tragedy, Terpisichore- the muse of song and
dance, Erato- the muse of love lyrics, Polyhymnia- the muse of geometry and
agriculture, Ourania-the muse of astronomy and Calliope-the muse of epic
lyrics.The art of painting did not have its own muse but lately it has been
recognised that many women has played the part of the muse for “famous”
painters.
Some people claim that the muse can be found inside yourself if you have a
strong connection with your inner self.
Others claim that the energy to create can come from nature, religion or a love
for everything in the world or from being like a small child who does not need a
muse to be able to create.
In mythology the mother of the muses was the goddess of memory Mnemosyne.
Memory is part of our identity. Sometimes memory fades away when we get old
and quite often only some memories from our early childhood remains clear to
the end. Touching the skin brings our memories to life. The memory can
disappear for a while and then reappear as a smell, a colour or as a feeling.
In this exhibition I have been reflecting over the muse, the memory and
melancholy through my own creating process.
The poems and the paintings bring us to a world where the smallest can be the biggest and where the movement of a butterfly wing can change the world. To a world where it is possible to talk for a while to those who are no longer in this world.
A world where people wander and try to find themselves and the purpose of life. A world where nature gives comfort and a tattoo can tell who we are. In the poems and the paintings water is un important element both as un element giving comfort but also as a symbol of the depths in ourselves. The fragility, cruelty and coincidence of life are present
Women and animals have been worshipped and sacrificed in the name of religions in all times. In this exhibition I combined holy animals from different religions with dancing women. What is happening in the world today and how are women responding to it? Someone is singing on the church steps and somewhere the codes for women are very strict and their possibilities to react are very limited. The holy animals in the pictures are not taking part of any religious statue they are just looking at us. The women on the paintings are dancing. I wanted to make hopeful paintings -despite all.
The author August Strindberg wrote in his novel “The red room” about the ordinary woman who had a picture of her mother and father and of the king on her nightstand. Today it would seem almost absurd to think that a woman would have a picture of king Carl Gustav, Mr. Sauli Niinistö or Mr. Vladimir Putin on her nightstand. This exhibition is a tribute to all female role models and to the men who like to live with and love strong women.
By painting I tried to move from chaos toward harmony. I thought of making a journey from chaos with bright chaotic colors towards grey harmonic colors. I realized during the process that every painting is moving towards harmony and every painting consists of a moment of Chaos and a moment of harmony. Without chaos I can´t find harmony.
Every great moment consists of its opposite, being afraid to loose what you have. Still you have to dare! The paintings are “ in between” abstract and realistic and moves between controlled and uncontrolled and the brush strokes are shown. The paintings may be chaotic and you have to go “into the painting” in order to find harmony.