MARKUS RISSANENpaintings 4.3.2017 – 26.3.2017

Totem and taboo, 2014
acrylic on canvas
200 x 240 cm

MARKUS RISSANEN

I held my previous solo exhibition four years ago. Since then, I have painted only a few paintings. The main reason for this is my doctoral degree in fine arts, the completion of which ended up taking longer than expected. But now it is almost finished. At times, my dissertation and the related mathematical research tested my identity as an artist. What is a painter, who instead of painting, would stubbornly spend countless hours on geometry problems that he believes are useful for his dissertation?

Years pass quickly, the toddler becomes a little man and the little girl starts school. The couple of litres of paint in the corner of the studio quietly turn into a two-kilo lump. As the mass shrinks, its hardened surface starts cracking in a weird way. It looks like a chalk-white face that's mumbling to me with its toothless gums: "You let years pass without needing me. Look at me now: I'm a shrivelled, dead, useless lump!" But I gradually grow attached to the lump, and the lump also gets tired of it nagging at me every time I visit the studio. Then again, why nag at me? The geometry problem is solved, the results are published, the structure of my dissertation starts to take shape and my writing takes a run-up. At some point the calm features of the lump begin to fascinate me more and more. I add two short lines to it for closed eyes and think that I´ve seen this calm face before, but where? At last I know: it's the face of dying Marat in the painting by Jacques-Louis David. But now this calm face has changed owners: it's no longer the face of a dying political agitator but the artist himself, the artist who was afraid of dying as an artist, if only temporarily, for a few years´ time. Wait a minute: how can a face change owners? And how can anyone die "temporarily"? In art, maybe anything is possible.

One of the paintings in this exhibition is from 2014, others from this and last year. I notice that my paintings are still about nature and natural themes, but the viewer may detect some human bypaths.


The public defence of Markus Rissanen´s doctoral thesis Basic Forms and Nature will take place on Saturday 20th of May 2017 at 1 pm at SES Auditorium Kino K-13 in Katajanokka, Kanavakatu 12. Welcome!

 
  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_Kapy_2017

    Cone, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    80 x 90 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_HYVA_LAPPA_2017

    Funny lip, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    40 x 45 cm
    1700 €

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_UHO_SMALL_2017

    U.H.O. (Unidentified Hovering Object), 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    60 x 70 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_UHO_2017

    U.H.O. (Unidentified Hovering Object), 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    240 x 200 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_Yo-preerialla_2016

    A night at a Prairie, 2016
    acrylic on canvas
    70 x 60cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_Herne-aivo-pahkinaa_2016

    Pea-brain-peanut, 2016
    acrylic on canvas
    70 x 70 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_MAALARIN_KUOLEMA_2017_2_DETALJI

    Painter's Death, detail, 2017
    painting: gesso and acrylic on canvas
    200 x 240 cm
    sculpture: dried up paint, linen, wooden stand
    h. 70 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_MAALARIN_KUOLEMA_2017_DETALJI

    Painter's Death, detail, 2017
    painting: gesso and acrylic on canvas
    200 x 240 cm
    sculpture: dried up paint, linen, wooden stand
    h. 70 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_SUURI_KAPY_2017

    Big cone, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    240 x 200 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_PERSONA-NON_GRATA_2017

    Persona non grata, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    45 x 40 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_HAPPY_PAINTING_2016_626

    Happy Painting (Enigma Smile), 2016
    acrylic on canvas
    40 x 32 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_Peilipallo_maisemassa_2017

    Mirror ball in landscape, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    160 x 180 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_Mustia-kristalleja_2016_

    Black chrystals, 2016
    acrylic on canvas
    45 x 40 cm

  • rissanen/2017/MARKUS_RISSANEN_VALKOISIA_KRISTALLEJA_2017

    White chrystals, 2017
    acrylic on canvas
    35 x 30 cm

 
 
 
 
 
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