Collages 2002 - 2008

Some Things must never be Forgotten, 2008

House of Cards, 2008

The Alchemy of Love, 2002

The ABC of Love, 2002, 40x40cm

Catharsis (‘Oh look, it’s an enigma of Catharsis’), 2002, 36.5x37cm

The Flight of Fancy, 2000, 34x42cm

The Web of Life, with Destiny as its leading Thread, 2004, 26x43cm

The Explorer, 2002, 44x67cm

The Water of Life: The Lower Sphere, 2002, 34.5x49.5cm

The Water of Life: The Middle Sphere, 2002, 34.5x49.5cm

The Water of Life: The Upper Sphere, 2002, 34.5x49cm

The Enigma of Opulence, 2002, 29x39cm

Leap of Faith, 2004, 31x31cm

Entangled for Life, 2004, 22x29cm

The House where my Heart lives is too small, 2004, 12x17cm

Trying to Figure it all out, 2004, 23x28.5 cm

Don’t Let Smoke get in your Eyes, 2005, 15x23cm

The Wheel of Life goes round and round… 2004, 29x48cm

Pages from my Diary, 2005, 22.5x29cm

Time is Shedding Floods of Tears, 2004, 17x24cm

The Flight of Time, 2002, 29x45cm

The Symbolism of Water 1-6 (The Emotions), 2002, 12z17cm:

The Past comes Crumbling Down, 2008

Twists of Fate, 2008

As Long a there is Life there is Hope, 2008

Loose Promises (It’s Raining Men), 2008

Who Cares? 2009

Reunion, 2008

Survival of the Fittest, 2008

Map, 2008

The Vocation, 2008

Tree of Life, 2008

Innocence Revisited, 2008

Ode to Creativity, 2008

The Path of Love, 2008

Handle with Care, 2008

A JESTING REFERENCE TO DAMIEN HIRST... A NEW COLLAGE WITH PHOTOGRAPHS

Vivi-Mari Carpelan: "The Impossibility of Sleeplessness and Damien Hirst isn't exactly making it any better"
copyright 2012

I wanted to do something with my abstract photography for Project X, but I sat for an entire day wondering what the heck to do with it. Eventually, having looked through a lot of imagery that could be used and found a photo we took for something Martin wanted to do a couple of years ago, this is what came about. It then occurred to me that it was very obviously about insomnia. The sense of walking a thin line or trying to balance my existence like a tight rope dancer when my medication is failing is imminent. When I mentioned "the impossibility" to Martin, he said oh be careful, that's what Damien Hirst has called a lot of his stuff. I thought that's excellent, yet another thing to lose sleep over! I mean his success, his money - and I'm not feeling any enormous kinship with his art, haha. In case it's not clear yet, my reference is ironic, if even sarcastic.


"In a general sense, this piece is about the fear of a sudden fall into a state of despair and depression, and how difficult it is to remain balanced and “on top of things”. More specifically this piece is about insomnia, which in severe cases involves constant threats of medication not working any more, while one is being pumped up with habit forming medication in the first place. It's the fear of going insane with severe cognitive and physical impairment and with physical flare ups due to lack of sufficient good quality sleep... and never getting any really useful help from the medical establishment. On top of this there's the sleep schedule which always goes wrong, ie. something disturbs one's routines and tips the wagon so you end up sleeping/dozing/lying around well into the afternoon and always feeling the day goes by while you're simply useless. Managing a condition that happens when you're not looking, is like walking a tight rope, knowing you could fall any time. This piece is part of Project X. When I thought of the name including the word "impossibility" it became a reference to titles by Damien Hirst and his rather (in my mind) undeserved financial success."

All the photos are my own except for that of the bird.

THE ART OF BECOMING HUMAN AND MY NEW ART

Vivi-Mari Carpelan: "Affected by X", copyright 2012

Project "X" marks a change of direction in my art. I got some ideas for new work in a new style, inspired by a lot of encouragement from the disability arts community but also people who support outsider art. If I am to continue doing collages, I feel it has to be for the specific purpose of highlighting social issues through my own life's experience. I have always used myself in this way, I don't feel comfortable moving too far away from the subjective experience of life. However, as this image shows I have decided to be braver in my approach... this photo is not of very good quality and a better one will appear some time soon... 

The work features photos of myself, photos I've taken of the Finnish winter by the Baltic Sea, and various medical reports from Finland about my condition. It was a bit upsetting to work with these reports, that state personal facts with such detachment. The piece is about strength and weakness. The black garments represent the affected areas. The medallion "wallpaper" is as usual a symbol of "cover up". It's fairly large and it was as usual very hard for me to focus and get it right. I had to do a lot on the computer, which is tiring, and then cut things very neatly, which is not my strength (I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with the frustrations of missing a few millimetres where it's really important!). It's mostly handmade so it was a lot to deal with - I refuse to do too much trickery on the computer. It didn't help that the laser printer has some problem with printing black. And my studio is just way too small, and I'm too disorganised when I get inspired! Disability has many faces...

I have been invited to participate in a group show about art related to the metaphysical world of Giorgio de Chirico in Weston Super Mare. Of course, it's right down my alley. I mean not literally, of course, as this seaside town really is out of the way. I have asked other artists whether they thought it was worth it, opinions vary. Sadly I will have to decline because of the submission fee of £ 200. I'm sure it's reasonable but I can't afford it. I will wait until someone wants to represent me and support me rather than just take my money for the privilege of getting one more gallery onto my CV. In any case, I refuse to enter the art game in which the artist needs to be wealthy in order to get represented.

Oh and I finally secured the dates for the Milkwood Gallery in Cardiff, a non-profit gallery and shop. My exhibition starts on the 4th of June and ends on the 25th. The retrospective will mark the end of an era...

Vivi-Mari Carpelan: "Entangled for Life" copyright 2003

THE ART OF BECOMING HUMAN

Retrospective: 10 years of handmade collages

In this exhibition I will be showing as many of my handmade collages as will possibly fit the walls of the lovely Milkwood Gallery. The themes I have been grappling with over the past ten years are mostly emotional, as my attention turned from a more theoretical attitude to life to one that was about living life for real. I was contemplating destiny and expressing feelings of being bound to one that for many reasons I couldn't escape. Ultimately, it was a sense of purpose rather than nihilism, albeit at a price. Life often felt like a kind of sacrifice for the acquisition of greater wisdom and understanding. As always, my images express paradox, as the hard lessons of life usually have a constructive side to them. Learning about emotions is learning how to be more human.