Artist statement

Painting has its long history. As far as we know the oldest cave paintings date back to some 40,000 years ago, but I believe that it goes further than that: human beings have always painted in some way. If we talk about the history of painting in Western art, one of the biggest turning points might be the invention of photography after the industrial revolution, which had a major impact on painting. In 1960's the words "painting is dead" or "the death of painting" were announced and have still been foretold repeatedly. Many artists, art movements, authors and essayists tried to find their own directions for the existence of painting. Therefore the simple question comes up in my mind: do we still need paintings?

I work with various mediums such as painting, installation, photography, video and ryijy-rug to come up with answers for the question by creating numerous works. For example, a series of works called Family Tree ll raises a doubt of painter's act of painting on a blank canvas as well as explores (renewed) return of portrait paintings. The project Finding and creating art materials from raw materials in Kainuu is a research project which directly reflects how much our society is based on consumption and how much we the artists nowadays have lost the basic relation to the origin of materials.

The whole project has six keywords: cell, transmission, cultivation, time, living body and family, which allow one to unravel the history of paintings.

Autumn 2015

The statement for the exhibition “Lost memories in infinite time”

Let’s say a glass fell from someone’s hand and in the end the glass broke. Was it just an accident? Did the person do it intentionally? Well, it is possible that the glass was ten meters big so it could not fit in the hand. Or it happened under another person’s order, or it was a conjunction of many coincidences. It is even possible that the person who dropped the glass was me…

There are many hidden stories and lost possibilities behind the events we face in our everyday lives and get to know through mass media. One individual person can only have limited experiences. And besides, we are not capable of storing all the memories and feelings that we get through our own experiences - we keep forgetting them.

I extend images and produce paintings using newspaper and magazine photos which already have their meaning. The painted newspapers are the main start of my works offering a new view.

A large number of things appear when something exists. But, on the other hand, innumerable things will be lost. I try to perceive those things again through my work. This is an action of gazing at imprints of existence.It is likely that an individual person is not able to see the entire picture of happenings. But the action of trying to understand is infinite, and I believe that this action will lead to finding out some kind of true nature of something in this world.

Summer 2013

I think that to start working with a blank canvas is questionable and too personal. I extend images and produces paintings using newspaper photos which already have their meaning. The painted newspapers exist as the main start of my works with a new and unique view. My paintings tell us how this world has full of humor and unforgettable moments.

March 2012