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| Eve’s Eye, 1997 |
(Exhibition 1997, Finland)
I don't see feeling and intellect as mutually exclusive, but rather as complementary functions. Together with another pair of opposites, the physical and the spiritual, I perceive four central inner aspects that should stand in a balanced relationship to one another.
This idea stands as the basis for one of my life's greatest mysteries, and it is this enigma that I try and express through my life and art, possibly even trying to find some answers to.
The name of this exhibition is “Eve's Eye”, because the main focus of my inner search has been with my life's feminine, more emotional aspects. In my imaginary world, Eve has come to represent the more receptive, introspective and intuitive sides of myself. The eye also points to inner , as well as outer perception. Occasionally, Adam also steps onto the stage, because all that he represents – extrovertion, mental and analytical reasoning – shouldn't be ignored. Even Adam has important challenges to deal with. There are also moments, when both of them come together in harmony. The experience can be painful, but sometimes truly blissful. Finally, there are moments of silence when neither one of them can be seen. Are they about to arrive, or have they already left?
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| Encounter Engenders Life, 1999 |
ENCOUNTER ENGENDERS LIFE
(Exhibition 1999, Finland)
As I look out towards the world, the world comes to greet me. The moment I perceive myself in the vast mirror of reality, I come to being. I am able to see myself - my shape, my features, my thoughts, my feelings, and my soul. All this is being born in the interaction between me and my environment, because it is the experience of this constellation that helps me redefine myself. Books, pictures, objects, people... all these things help me see and understand myself. The encounter lends me the mirror. Without this mirror I am not able to grow, change and become whole.
Life is an encounter, a play of opposites, a breathtaking dance where we unite and pull away, in the whirlwind of life, inwards and outwards, in oneness and in separation.... Like the natural flow of breathing or the play of the waves, like the gushing power of creativity from a well of life that never dries up. Do I dare to encounter life? Do I dare to encounter you? With an open gaze and an open mind? Perhaps the answer to the riddle of life is in the open gaze in the mirror that I encounter?
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| The Fragility of Hope, 1998 |
THE TEARS OF SAMSARA
(Exhibition 1998, Finland)
Tears of sorrow, tears of joy... Tears rejuvenate and cleanse us. Something dies away and leaves space for change. In the dynamic chaos of transformation the creative seed of potentiality is coming into being. From the ground that has become sopping wet and painful, the tender stalk of a new plant is cautiously reaching upwards, always with the same urgent desire to be noticed and taken care of, to receive love, warmth and light. Nothing lives in complete darkness. But without the darkness, the cold and the shadows, the light and the warmth would be meaningless. In the same way it is grief that provides joy with depth and meaning.
In the world views of Hinduism and Buddhism, Samsara is the name of the cycle of life. Life follows death and death follows life. Constant, dynamic change characterizes the inner being of life, and this is something that goes on inside as well as outside of us. But how solid are in actual fact the boundaries between inner and outer, between life and death, between sorrow and happiness? How solid and unchangeable is the one who is residing inside this body and perceiving all this? My experience of life is that the winds of change are blowing right through me, all the time, without interruption. I have no choice but to give them the space they require.
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| The Bride of Two Worlds, 2000 |
VIBRATIONS FROM THE DIMENSION OF SILENCE
(Exhibition 1998, Finland)
Far away from the humdrum of daily life lies an ancient site, a secret garden where reigns the deepest silence. This is where you can find the most fertile soil, water and all the prerequisites for the greatest splendour one can imagine - however, the warmth and the light is missing! As abandoned and empty as it seems, it is easy to believe that there is nothing to be found in this place. But if one of these days you are able to get loose from the toil and wear of day-to-day obligations and take the long and winding road to this place, then I am sure that you will be abundantly rewarded with floral splendour, birdsong and tasty fruits. Why? Because you are the warmth and the light. It is in the light of your consciousness that the force of life will come to being.
This is my experience of the mysterious being of silence. Silence is the soil of possibilities in which our experiences and intuitive insights are grounded. Our creative power flows out of the dimension of silence in order to manifest itself in symbolic pictures. Our rational mind is able to analyse and use these pictures in order to increase the understanding of our own development. It is from the dimension of silence that our desire to create and our will to live burst forth, all that make us co-creators of the world in which we live in. But how much do we actually use our inner potential? How much confidence do we have in our own creativity? Are we daring enough to clear the brushy path to our secret garden, or do we prefer to live our lives controlled by fear and anxiety only because this is what we are accustomed to? Do we dare to say yes to our inner development, to movement and change, to mental risk taking, to challenges and to our own intuition? Are you brave enough to listen to your inner voice and follow the vibrations to your silent and secretive homestead, and see what there is to be found?
My pictures follow the logic of dreams, where every colour and every detail owns a symbolic meaning in relation to its environment. I hope that they can be enjoyed and experienced as such, intuitively and emotionally, just like dreams and myths, but also rationally through the help of the intellect. Maybe one way of conduct does not necessarily exclude the other? I believe in a balance between polarities, and in a creative use of all the aspects and resources of our mental self!
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| Loose Promises, 2008 |
TWISTS OF FATE
(Exhibition 2009, Finland)
The exhibition deals with introspection and insights in regard to earlier traumas, as well as love relationships which often carry traits of problems that have not been solved. It’s possible to read the artwork as a story; vulnerability and fear are connected to thoughts about destiny and the wounds that one has been inflicted with during one’s life. The advice other people give often harm more than they help. The quest for love is confusing when you realize that you can’t get all that you need from a partner. Expectations, broken promises and disappointments may however in the best of cases lead to a freedom of the fear of loneliness, liberation and a greater focus on one’s own creativity as a source of satisfaction.
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