Anna-Leena Vilhunen 26th September – 20th October 2019
Liikkeellä To Move
Gallery Roikka, Taidekeskus Itä, Lappeenranta, Finland
The subject matter for my works arrive from memorable fleeting moments. When you move the brush a line is created. It both connects and separates. A truck moves forward and a message is passed along. The queen-artist character with her enormous side buns is standing on the side of the truck and another one in the middle of a stage in an opera house.
My works are paintings with oils or alkyds on canvas. I work in an incomplete world, in intersections of figurative and abstract. As a child I was nearly hit by a truck but my mother managed to save me at the last moment. – I survived and now as an adult I think this is the particular reason I paint.
Anna-Leena Vilhunen
The marks of paint, colour and fresh storytelling are important aspects for me. My themes are connected with artist’s work, parenthood and machines. Physical strength is pulsating, children are sucking breasts, machines are moving forward, the ground is being dug up and something new is born. The intensity of the interaction with people is somewhat similar as in the process of painting.
Action I graduated with BA(hons) in Fine Art from the Finnish Academy of Fine Art in 1990 and with MFA in 2002. I have had several private exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions since 1989. My works are in the collections of the State Art Deposit Collection and Helsinki Art Museum and many private collections.
Anna-Leena Vilhunen 2018
Painting is almost sculptural work, adding and removing of colour and bulk of paint, sensitivity and force. When paint is brushed onto canvas, this movement creates a colourful mark. The act of painting is similar to playing an instrument. The brush strokes both connect and separates, as if transmitting or providing something. These dynamics are connected to nurturing, interaction and also power.
The marks of paint, colour and fresh storytelling are important aspects for me. My themes are connected with artist’s work, parenthood and machines. Physical strength is pulsating, children are sucking breasts, machines are moving forward, the ground is being dug up and something new is born. The intensity of the interaction with people is somewhat similar as in the process of painting.
Some years ago I saw a woman with a metre sized curve of milk spraying out from her breasts in the street. I want to paint with the same ferocity.
Action I graduated with BA(hons) in Fine Art from the Finnish Academy of Fine Art in 1990 and with MFA in 2002. I have had several private exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions since 1989. My works are in the collections of the State Art Deposit Collection and Helsinki Art Museum and many private collections.
Anna-Leena Vilhunen 2018