Phenomena 2007
"Phenomena" was my first "real" series of paintings. Earlier I had just painted whatever popped into my mind and paid no attention whatsoever to any complexities such as how it all would come together, for example, in a show (those were happy days!!). But then I was invited to International Group Exhibition in Pori Art Museum by the curator Laura Köönikkä, and for that marvelous opportunity I decided to take a step forward as an artist. No, I felt that I HAVE to take a step forward as an artist! So, a series it was going to be, and not just a series, but a series with a planned content and with a message.
To be honest, I was happy like a little piggy. Getting works to Pori Art Museum exhibition was one of my dreams coming true. Having studied in the Pori Art School I valued the place very high, for at, that time I was there, in the end of 1990s, it really was one of the top places in all Finland to show international contemporary art. Today Pori is still a top notch place in that field, but the competition has increased a lot recently. Anyways, the theme of the show was "Phenomena", and I decided that my phenomena was about the collision of concrete things, which we can see or touch in the world, and the immaterial things, which we sense or feel. I decided that drawing line is the concrete and the colour is the immaterial, abstract. The other idea for the series was to make works that consisted of several canvases. Comics had been my biggest muse in the visual arts until that far, so it was only natural that I included the concept of frames, and thus time, to my first series!
