I am a 30 year old visual artist, by artistic training a painter. I am currently doing further studies at the graphic department at the Academy of Fine Arts. There are seven 1-5 minute video pieces in this exhibition. Video allows a kind of documentation that is not as readily possible through drawing. Editing is reminiscent of drawing with its sense of rhythm and emphasis, which means that your own psyche is reflected in the work. When making videos it is possible to choose between creating an illusion of reality, expressing linear time, or creating your own impression.
All the work presented here are separate, individual pieces. There are, however, reoccurring characters: a 30-year-old woman, a dog, and a child. Naturally, the point of view is that of the artist. All material that is used in the video is documentation, none of the situations are staged.
Reoccurring themes are the slight problems with facing the everyday, alcoholism, celebration, rejection, becoming estranged with the environment and nostalgia towards the past. On the video there are characters such as a man thinking he might be dyslectic and a woman who hates her own physical appearance.
Celebration as a historic and cultural habit connected with various situations is a communal ritual. Organising small and larger parties has always been a part of all cultures, and their meaning to the individual and the community has always been significant. For some, it shows itself as a happy ritual to withdraw from the day-to-day life, for others, an excuse to booze during several days.
One video is a self-portrait, an image of a state of mind classified as depression. It is a question of is escapism; non-voluntary, but for which a prescription may be offered as a remedy. If my ties to the tradition of painting were stronger, I would paint a self-portrait or a series of self-portraits related to the topic. If the viewer identifies with a video, I feel I am sharing something, however, if the viewer is estranged or remains cold, I am telling him/her something.
Some of the videos reveal my training as a painter. The impressionists' garden party, and expressive traditions of self-portrait or portrait painting Jähmeää (rigid), Lampaanpolska (Sheep dance)
It is important to see and understand the vital moments and states of being from the point of view of life as a whole. What is significant and meaningful is not always that which makes you move on, it is also the understanding of why one does not move on, or why one is sinking. For me, creating art is honest introspection, an ongoing process.
