I have very recently graduated from Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen,
Scotland, where I studies printmaking. Before my printmaking course I studied
fine art in Glasgow, and even before that History of Art at the University of
Helsinki. The images that I sent you as part of my application were all from my
recent Degree Show, titled 'World Destroyer'. In my degree show pieces I
explored imaginary cityscapes, chaotic but cute. I created an entire world that
took inspiration from Japanese arcades and videogames, old Nintendo imagery and
also contemporary artists such as Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Aya Takano,
Ilja Karsikas, Katja Tukiainen and Chiho Aoshima (and many others). I created a
big wall painting as well as traditional prints. M intention was for people to
be able to walk into my degree show space and imagine/pretend they are not in
Aberdeen at all, but instead a space version of 80s Japan, filled with
intergalactic space destroyers and panda-shaped killing machines.
Japan is a big influence in my work not so much because of the place itself, but
because of the Japanese preoccupation with all things cute and childlike, what
the Japanese call 'kawaii'. This same childlike aesthetic is also prevalent in
the art of contemporary Finnish artists, illustrators and cartoonists and thus a
great influence in my art. However, my work is about non-existing places, not
Japan or anywhere else specific. I want to challenge my viewers to incorporate
their knowledge and memories in order to read images of things and places that
don't exist. To do this, I want to use imagery and patterns from things that do
exist (and reflect my background as well) and create something new and almost
surreal from these existing patterns: Scandinavian tradition, archaeological
finds, patterns from Greek pottery etc. (I am half Finnish, half Greek, and have
spent many years in Scotland - very international!)
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I am interested in traveling as a theme, the journey, which I have used
previously to represent new experiences. Previously I have created
'travelogues', visual records of places I have visited, and how these places
have shaped me as a person. In the future I want to expand on this and create
new places and worlds that do not exist. Also, space travel as an addition to
this idea of travelling, is also part of the Japanese (and Western, too, for
example superhero-comics) pop idea, bending space and time is a big part of
manga and popular culture in general.
Narratives and visual sequences are also very important to me, how we read
narrative sequences and how time is portrayed in these sequences of images. So
my prints (and the rest of my work) generally form a linear narrative, meant to
be read as a sequence. Even if the prints are not directly corresponding to the
story, the story is still there as a starting point. In a way, my work almost
reads as illustrations to the story that is the base of my work, even though I
do view my work as fine art prints and not illustrations. However, I am less
keen to make a distinction between popular culture and fine art, or fine art and
illustration and comics, for example, than some other artists. At some point, I
was hoping to incorporate animation into my work, making these sequences more
obvious - at this stage, however, I am more interested in breaking down the
story into panels, into various prints that will eventually come together as a
whole. I want to produce a body of work, that will form one piece, in a way. All
the panels coming together as one piece.
During the residency, I would like to expand on this idea of narrative sequence
as telling a specific story - however, although I do have several ideas as to
what that story might be, my work generally tends to be a response to my
surroundings, so the residency will form the story. A story about the
protagonist coming back home after years of traveling the world, perhaps? Some
sort of personal Odyssey, maybe. However, I have already started feeling my
influences shifting from space age Japan and glam-rock more towards New Orleans
smoky jazz bars and Chartreuse on the one hand, and getting lost in Finnish
forests on the other. Searching for solitude to an extent, perhaps.
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ALLAPRIMA MUSEUM
