TOPI RUOTSALAINEN2021: A Folk Epic 20.11.2021 – 19.12.2021

My Hoboette, 2021
oil on canvas
120 x 120 cm

Just over a year ago, I saw a documentary about the Finnish singer-songwriter J. Karjalainen, “Beibi ollaan ikuisii”, directed by Antti Leino in 2018. Early in the documentary, Karjalainen says that he sees music as images and that a song can be inspired by an existing image. There is an example in the film: a print that looks like a woodcut or linocut print and features a vagrant-like figure playing the guitar in a farmhouse. Karjalainen simply sings: “The vagrant plays the guitar.” There is also a bird cage in the image. “There is a small bird in the cage by the door,” Karjalainen continues his very unpretentious song.

I’ve been writing and performing folk and roots music since 2012 with my band, Mount Fool. I, too, experience music in a visual manner although, to me, music appears mainly as fickle visions, potential tones and moods, which always try to escape the oppressive limits of a single image surface and its lifeless two-dimensionality. Inspired by J. Karjalainen’s direct and understated narrative, I wanted to try something that was a bit similar. I ended up creating paintings that were based on my songs.

I soon realised that I can’t express the plain talk I admired so much; like a typical Savonian, I still want to leave things hidden and use periphrases. I enjoyed being able to include references in my paintings freely and draw from all the work I’d already done by writing the songs that were the background of my paintings.

My exhibition, 2021: A Folk Epic, is about holding on to the images in the songs and making them visible. Six paintings that were inspired by songs that I wrote form the core of the exhibition. The rest of the works in this exhibition move somewhere along the intersecting little paths of the stories in my songs.

Topi Ruotsalainen



 
  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_HOEDOWN_IN_THE_FACE_OF_DOOM_2021

    Hoedown in the Face of Doom, 2021
    oil on canvas
    100 x 120 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_MOMENT_2020

    Moment, 2020
    oil on canvas
    140 x 100 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_THE_BUSKER_2021

    The Busker, 2021
    oil on canvas
    31 x 30 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_BABTISM_OF_FIRE_AND_WATER_2021

    Babtism of of Fire and Water, 2021
    oil on canvas
    200 x 265 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_SHADOWS_ON_YOUR_FACE_2021

    Shadows on your Face, 2021
    oil on canvas
    120 x 120 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_DADDY_WAS_A_DANCING_MAN_2021

    Daddy was a dancing man, 2021
    oil on canvas
    17 x á 30 x 40 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_DADDY_WAS_A_DANCING_MAN_2021_DETALJI

    Daddy was a dancing man, detail, 2021
    oil on canvas
    + Augmented Reality Animation
    30 x 40 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_IEVAS_POLKA_2021

    Ieva's Polka, 2021
    oil on canvas
    120 x 120 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_HOBO_CODE_2021

    Hobo code, 2021
    oil, chalk and chalkboard paint on board
    55 x 100 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_UNHELD_HORSES_2021

    Unheld horses, 2021
    oil on canvas
    100 x 100 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_CAREFREE_2021

    Carefree, 2021
    oil on canvas
    100 x 100 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_PICKIN_ON_THE_PORCH_202

    Pickin’ on the Porch, 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    39 x 67 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_WALKERS_2021

    Walk, 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    53 x 69 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_WALK_2021

    Walk, 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    70 x 89 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_KICK_IN_THE_NUTS_II_2021

    Kick in the Nuts (execution), 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    51,5 x 61 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_ENCOUNTER_2021

    Encounter, 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    47 x 51 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_KICK_IN_THE_NUTS_I_2021

    Kick in the Nuts I (demonstration), 2021
    acrylic on cardboard, framed
    39 x 67 cm

  • ruotsalainen/2021_2/TOPI_RUOTSALAINEN_IN_LIMBO_2021

    In limbo, 2021
    oil on canvas
    120 x 100 cm

 
 
 
 
 
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