Paintings – Samu Raatikainen
The starting point of the works by visual artist Samu Raatikainen is an image printed on paper using a method reminiscent of collography, which Raatikainen examines from various perspectives. He compares this phase to the study of scientific data, where specific information is sought from the material.
The printed image’s structures, rhythms, controlled yet surprising accidents, colors, and various shapes are elements that the drawn and painted areas in the works comment upon. Drawing refers to architecture and theoretical thinking. Together, these factors suggest a future structure, grounded in the printed image on paper. Raatikainen’s aim is to depict the space between theoretical thinking and the concrete result, making this imaginative moment visible by attempting to bind it to a two-dimensional surface.
Raatikainen’s works depict a dialogue between painterly and organic surfaces and geometric and systematic visual worlds. At times, the dialogue is balanced, while at other moments, regular shapes dominate the painterly surface. The scale of the works is variable, with no single recognizable scale. A single piece can be interpreted as an aerial view, a map, an abstract surface, or an electron microscope image referring to science and research.
In Raatikainen’s works, one can find rules and references related to shape and color that allude to terrain and road maps and the symbols used in them. The titles of the works offer the viewer a subtle guide on how to interpret the work, but the interpretation remains open to the viewer.
Kari Alatalo
Art critic
Acknowledgments: State Display Grant Board, William Thuring Foundation Nominee Award.
Visual artist Samu Raatikainen (b. 1971) studied at the Free Art School (1991-94) and completed a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at Chelsea College of Art & Design in 1997. He has participated in group exhibitions since 1995 in Finland and England. Raatikainen has held solo exhibitions since 1998, with recent exhibitions at Galleria Heinola in Helsinki in 2006 and Galleria Justilla in Turku in 2009. His works are included in the collections of, among others, the EMMA Art Museum (Saastamoinen Foundation Collection), the Oulu, Pori, and Rovaniemi Art Museums (Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection), as well as private collections. Samu Raatikainen moved to Pori this year after living in England for fourteen years.
This text was created with AI assistance.