KRISTIINA UUSITALOGales of Laughter 16.3.2013 – 14.4.2013

A painting is a song that I sang with the taste of being in my mouth. A taste of being that is as abstract as the present moment. Nonetheless, I feel the radiating weight of the moment.

The theme of my works is the illusion of movement and the image of thought, even though the figurative motifs of my paintings allude to images of the surface of water. Liquid life moved by wind, a constructed smile, light from time. A gale of laughter.

What we see is of decisive importance for experience. We feel that the self is where our eyes are. A painting is a hand that feels the resistance of the water. I consider the body of water, transparent and reflecting its surroundings while definitely material at the same time. I spread flowing paint on a reflective surface to represent an image of water, a surface shining with light reflecting the mind of the artist and the viewer. Many exposures later, the image comes forth from between myself and my thoughts.

In my paintings I suggest the gaze that is cast when a boundary is crossed, when the joy of discovery gushes forth and heats the palms of the hands. The familiar shore of Lake Saimaa has been my lily pond. I´ve brought home the glimmer of water and thunder in my baggage from near and far - to find a patch of sunlight striped by blinds - just as fascinating as the waves of the sea. It is from these that I improvise my paintings in the studio.

A painting is a place for life of the most real kind, lacking words but becoming more recognizable when it gains form. The path forks before me faster than I can take the road of my choice. I set out on it like Walt Whitman in his poem "Song of the Open Road", with inexorable brisk steps, rejoicing over every turn of the way

Kristiina Uusitalo

Kristiina Uusitalo´s (born 1959) paintings are images of the landscape and nature of Finland. They reveal the personal experience of the artist as something shared and recognizable. The paintings depict the revelatory moment of achieving awareness. Their large masterly brushstrokes alter the scale of the landscape, attaching them to an intensely experienced moment . The landscape becomes a stage where the artist tells of her insights and presentiments. Kristiina Uusitalo was awarded the Finnish State Art Prize of 2008.