PORI ART SCHOOL GRADUATION EXHIBITION

KIRSI JAAKKOLA
Paintings

SWAMP

I have painted a swamp. Wet, brown, and mundane. At the same time, so magnificent, fragrant, alluring, and mystical. The colors of the swamp invite you to look, to come closer, to cross over, stepping from one mound to another. The excitement of temptation lies in the treacherousness hidden beneath the beautiful surface. A deceptive, sinking land.

Behind my stories is wandering with boots on, marveling at the swamp’s myths and captivating color world. Each painting is based on a strongly experienced atmosphere, an awareness of space, the changes in light, weather, and seasons. Sometimes I peer into violet-black bottomless holes, other times into sky reflections in water puddles.

On the edge of a hole, I think about time. In the eyes of the swamp, I encounter a direct opening leading to millennia ahead. The swamp hides and conceals but also preserves. The present moment lives in light and color, at the edge of the eye. I wonder how even the snow cannot cover the vast burst of colors.

KAJA LEHTONEN
Sculptures

“ON THE LEVEL OF THE EARTH”

I am interested in using urban materials in my works. I believe our ways of seeing reality are choices. The different structuring of a subject is a different choice, examining it reveals details upon which the whole is perceived as reality.

JENNI RINNE
Paintings

Large-scale acrylic and oil paintings that clearly feature three themes: cityscapes, windows, and ballerinas.

Kati Valkonen, tempera paintings
KATI VALKONEN
Paintings

My graduation work consists of around forty small-sized (20×20 and 20×25 cm) abstract tempera paintings. These paintings depict my own marriage with its joys and sorrows.

My main goal has been to create beauty, but through painting, I have also processed my marriage—partly consciously, but mostly unconsciously.

I chose marriage as the theme for my graduation work because it is the most important relationship in my life. Marriage is no longer automatically seen as a lifelong relationship, and the media constantly feeds the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I have married to live with my husband “until death do us part.” It is interesting to try to depict the diverse, often contradictory emotions in which we live in our relationship.

My painting style is impulsive and fast, and I usually don’t make sketches or plan in advance what I will paint. Often I realize only after seeing the finished work what it represents. Abstract painting feels like the most natural way for me to create art right now because I can paint more freely without a model. Abstract expression is also a relatively new acquaintance for me, which makes it interesting.

This text was created with AI assistance