Porin Saskiat ry, Scholarship Exhibition – Antti Johannes Kääriäinen, Frida Moukulainen

Antti Johannes Kääriäinen

Antti Johannes Kääriäinen (b. 1988) has lived in interaction with art his entire life. As an artist who explores and combines various techniques, he is interested in the dialogue between science and art, as well as their psychological impact on humans. His works often stem from intuition, philosophical reflection, and the challenges posed by materials. His current work draws inspiration from the power of performance.

Antti Johannes Kääriäinen holds a degree in Fine Arts (BA). He completed his studies at Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts, graduating in the spring of 2014.  Kääriäinen also has a strong background in craftsmanship, as he is a trained carpenter/artisan.

The Artist on His Work:

“I am built from scraps and spare parts.”

In my work, the potential of recycled materials meets both personal and societal issues. My aim is to evoke philosophical reflection through the handling of material properties. My often tense, sometimes even harsh, assessments of the present moment highlight themes such as the value of the individual, futuristic idealism, and the significance of communication.

I come from a long line of blacksmiths, and as the last descendant of this lineage, I still feel the need to create good tools. I see this as a kind of abstraction that continuously drives me to renew myself and create something new—searching for the tool that I am missing. As I move from one work to another in search of this tool, I have realized that each creative process is, in itself, a kind of tool. The process of creating an artwork is always a constructive journey toward a finished piece, yet the artwork itself often turns out to be merely a trophy of the journey taken.

— Antti Johannes Kääriäinen

Frida Moukulainen

Frida Moukulainen (b. 1985) has the heart of a rebel. She is drawn to the challenges of artistic work while striving to maintain the freedom of intuitive action. Her goal is to create art that truly reflects the artist behind it. Authenticity is what interests her.

Moukulainen works spontaneously, using a wide variety of techniques and instinctively combining materials and content. From many contradictory elements, she ultimately constructs something whole.

She graduated as a visual artist from Satakunta University of Applied Sciences in 2014. She lives and works in Niinisalo, Finland.

The Artist on Her Work:

Sensitivity and randomness of content, hardness and concreteness. My paintings bring together various combinations of materials, techniques, and themes.

My works are a form of mixed-media painting, combining ink painted on an unprimed canvas with oil paint and spray paint on a transparent plastic sheet. The canvas and the attached plexiglass form a unified whole, both in terms of content and painting technique. The delicacy of ink on the soft, unprimed canvas contrasts with the hardness of the plastic and the heavier application of oil and spray paint.

I paint because painting is impossibly enjoyable. I often think of myself as “just” a painter—not in a self-deprecating way, but in a straightforward manner. I express myself immediately, and even I am not always fully aware of the entire process. Sometimes I only understand the meaning of the content afterward—like interpreting a dream. The moods and themes in my work reflect what I experience, and contradictions are a part of my personality. In my paintings, I bring everything together.

— Frida Moukulainen