In Autralia I had a residence of Bundanon Trust not far from Nowra.
To view photos taken in Bundanon, click here
There I concentrated in painting with method which makes an interesting structure to painted surface.
I refined this technique from paintmixture forbidden in my childhood.
When as a child, we had a wall or a toy car to paint, I was always told never to mix oil based and water based paints.
Obeying accumulated temptation. When I grew up I had to try and made that forbitten mixture.
Et voi koskaan tietää kaikkea mistään ("You can never know all about anything"), acrylic/enamel on canvas, 45 x 195 and 18 x 19 cm.
This work of art in two pieces is declaring the fact that we always have limited knowledge.
Just like, on the one hand, from distance details disappear, and on the other hand in closer view understanding larger context is difficult.
Or how about back side of the subject? We always lack information, which in some cases can be fateful.
We should be aware of our deficiency, when making decisions and judgements.
Bundanon with Brangus cattle was turning point for this painting.
My original plan was to paint long horizontal image. Soon I found putting not so long cow in a low painting a fertile problem.
Questioning how much of a scenery could be painted (you can never paint it all!), led to this solution of two parts, pointing out limitations in our abilities.
Painting is in entrance hall of Media Centre of City of Helsinki's Education Department, Mäkelänkatu 84
In Bundanon I was also pondering, why do I make art. Do I even have an effect on my doings?
My questioning led to these paintings.
acrylic/enamel on canvas, approx. 50 x 80 cm each
First I painted dots with oil-based enamel paint on the canvas.
Then, with a broad brush I painted over all the canvas a dark layer with water-based acrylic.
This was the task I gave to them: Picture a starry sky!
As these paints repel each other, soon bright stars began to break through the dark-painted sky.
Works of art started to carry out the given task and create wanted picture.
"Can I influence my doings?" they could have asked while creating happened to them.
Even though they acted independently and reached an unique result,
they didn't have an effect on the course of events - what a delicious disagreement!
I refined also this painting method from the paintmixture forbidden in my childhood.
Without prohibitions this might have never happened.
Were those prohibitions in fact a lure, which I followed without my own will power?
attached 2010
An inspiring text I found at the plastic chair of guest atelier.
It reminded me of René Magritte's painting "This is not a pipe".
("This is a chair and nothing else...")
And also made me wonder what for all the instructions are needed and who writes them.
I drew the chair and pencil rubbed the embossed text to the paper.
For easier reading, you find the "Warning" also here:
WARNING: This chair is designed for use as a chair only. It has been manufactured for
domestic use and should be used only with weight of the seated person distributed over all
four legs of the chair. DO NOT use for commercial purposes. DO NOT stand upon the chair. DO
NOT use the chair on slippery or shiny surfaces. DO NOT sit on the chair with
weight distributed on one or two legs of the chairs. Children using this chair
must be supervised. NOTE: The material from which this chair is made
contains ultra violet stabilisers but this chair will slowly lose strength if left
exposed to direct sunlight. We guarantee its structural strength and safety for
normal domestic use but only for the total exposure to sunlight which would be encountered if
this chair were left out in the open for five years. (Refer beneath seat for date of manufacture).
Weekender MADE IN AUSTRALIA
