"I drifted off for a moment"

“In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment.”

– Haruki Murakami, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

In Arteles creative center, the stunning rural landscape and remoteness provide an ideal time and place for drifting off.

I took many walks and let myself get a little lost in the woods. The solitude with nature heightens one’s senses and releases the imaginations. I discovered that my approach in my creative process needed to be just as spontaneous as wandering without a purpose.

With no outcomes in mind, I made quick random marks on canvas/paper and let the shapes reveal itself to me as I work. The series of mix media drawings are based on the time I spent rummaging through the communal art supplies in the work studios. I used leftover ink, wool thread, and found images from Finnish children’s learning book. In the process of making the works, I was thinking about the connection between learning and existence, the Descartes’ dictum "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am).

I also made a series of oil on canvas works by adopting a loose style of brushwork that was different from how I would normally work. The primacy of painting and drawing freely invites more possibilities of representations. The final outcomes are images which I think are akin to imaginary portraits, I try to depict the character’s train of thoughts simultaneously – like a mix of darkness, joy, loneliness, and freedom.SaveSaveSave

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