Maria Hall
How do you name your works?
I call my bigger works Efteråt (Afterwards) and the smaller ones, which look like landscapes, are called Där (There). They don’t refer to actual places, but for me, they stand for specific circumstances or situations. The works called Efteråt (Afterwards) have a special significance to me, since they represent a certain individual working process.
How do you continue after having started a work, and how time-consuming is it?
I start by filling the canvas with colour and then I take away material from the work so that, in the end, some paintings hardly hold any of the original paint. I want to visualise memory or something that has been, but no longer is. The finished work contains traces or functions as an index of a movement or a memory. Chance is also of importance and sometimes a work just turns out to be bad. Subtle differences can affect the outcome immensely. The work process can be quite quick, but the different phases one necessarily has to go through do take their time.
With the works called Där (There) I begin by painting beautiful, expressive ‘landscapes’ in order to subsequently remove the representational element. I destroy the first picture with vertical and horisontal strokes and in the end the motif disappears. These works seem quite raw, ugly and nervous when you look at them close up. From a distance, they acquire life and look more inviting. The ‘there’ mentioned in the title is in-between the two extremes.
Can we use the term seriality when it comes to your works and does it have a specific meaning to you?
I would say that the individual works speak the same language with different voices. In the exhibition situation, they should work together and somehow visualise the working process as series. The viewer should be able to see what has been removed and what has been added to them. But in the end, they are singular works and function as individual paintings.
What position does colour have in your works? You use quite earthen colours?
Earlier, I used quite dark tones but more recently I have started to work with lighter colours and have moved from vertical to horisontal compositions. I have now used a very limited palette for many years – ultramarine, light ochre, white and sometimes umbra. It has happened that I have wondered whether this is enough, but in the end I can find the darkest as well as the lightest tones in these colours. I find these colours all around – in nature, in light and in water. For example, it would be extremely difficult for me to use red.
There should be an enigmatic quality to my works. They should evade identification. They are ready when I feel uneasy looking at them. My works, in a way, should be uncomfortable and it is satisfying to communicate beauty together with something that borders on the repulsive. It was fascinating, after a ‘dark’ period, to try if this could be possible with a lighter palette.
The same elements of ugliness, uneasiness and desolation are also present in my smaller works. The pictures in the Där (There) series are easily associated with something reminiscent of nature, of water and forests. These paintings have an inherent landscape – one can see horisons in them. I will not deny their connection to the genre of landscape painting and it is quite interesting to see what status this genre has nowadays.
Three years ago, I could not have made these pictures but now it is exciting to see where these kind of works can go. Earlier, I did beautiful paintings which were appealing to the eye but that is not my area of interest anymore. Things that are not so uncomplicated and attractive are closer to me – the complex nature of things seems more real.
What is that still life with dead birds in it?
It is actually a copy of a painting by Magnus von Wright which I did when I studied in Valand School of Art in Gothenburg. I executed a number of copies of the work, and its colour scheme, motif and feel are something that have been present in my works ever since. I have that work in my studio all the time and, in a way, it is the basis of what I do.
What is your relation to the tradition of painting?
Besides being an artist, I have a degree in Art History and of course I work within that world as well through my paintings. I think my relation to the tradition and history of art is quite unproblematic. It is an advantage to have those resources with you all the time. I am definitively not the kind of painter who goes to her studio, closes the door behind her and starts to paint away for the love of colours. I paint because I find it interesting. As a viewer, I do not give priority to painters’ works over photographs or videos. All artistic media is of the same value. Today, it is impossible to work as a painter in the way one could twenty years ago. When I said that my relationship to tradition is unproblematic I do not mean that I work uncritically or without reflection. It is not possible for me to work within the tradition of landscape painting without doing it in today’s terms and in my own way.
Possibilities of painting? Why do you paint?
Because it is so difficult and demanding. It is so fast to work with photography and video – one just pushes a button and there you have it. I like the resistance in the process of painting. The actual act of painting and as well as its problematic historical environment are interesting. My fascination with painting simply lies in this resistance and complexity.
Time and slowness?
It is very important. I am interested in both the time before the actual painting process and the time after the completion of a work, when you relate to the finished painting and its significance. You evaluate whether you have completed the work and whether you should go further or not. It is not just the time spent when making the work that I find vital.
The role of the artist?
I think it is fascinating that it, through visuality, is possible to confront and communicate with other people. I get new insights through my works and the same hopefully goes for the viewers. Through my work I hope it is possible for them to meet themselves in new ways. I could not live without art – it brings nuances to one's life and new perspectives to things.
Kari Immonen
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