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S      e      l      f-      p      o      r      t      r      a      i      t		works 2004
		Green Ribbon
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		In the Own Light
The construction and deconstruction of meanings is part of the continuous movement		In another Light
of culture. When something would appear to be in the air, we speak of zeitgeist, or the		On the Shore
spirit of the time. This is like a train which leaves once every generation and carries
those willing to take in its message. But what happens then – as the journey continues		works 2006
and the zeitgeist changes – is essential for the artist. Growing into adulthood in terms of		Summa
your art is also growing out of date. And becoming much more individual than zeitgeist.		Fission
		Fusion
		Stemma
		Syntax
Poet Rabbe Enckell has said: "That's how it is, in every case. All writing aims at		Desire Vacui
a self-portrait." Enckell may have hit the most essential of the motives behind an artist's
action. It is not about motifs or themes but about a self-portrait; however, a self-portrait is		works 2008
a portrait of your art. You have to find and make visible the things you see and the way you		Abscissa
see them, and how your gaze picks out the you in what you see. That is always new,		Curriculum Vitae
every time you begin a painting.		Half & Half
		Ibid.
		Sub Rosa
(Reworked quotation from the Introduction to the publication Kaisa Soini:
Desire Vacui – paintings and writings)
T      h      e              F      l      y               a      n      d               t      h      e               S      p      a      c      e
It sometimes seems as if I walked my paintings into being. I walk my way to the studio and
think of them, and once there, keep on walking towards the canvas wall. Like a fly beating at a
windowpane I relate to that wall. Occasionally, I step back or to one side to see the work from
different angles but then return to the wall. This path I keep to is not long but frequently
taken. Somewhere along the way the paintings get done.
Just as space participates in the process of painting, I hope it is activated when the viewer
meets the canvas. Moving around it, he or she also bodily takes possession of the space
And as the painting reveals different aspects of itself during this dialogue, so arises the
consciousness of the sight itself in the viewer.
I aim at creating a presence. I don't try to illustrate or tell stories with my paintings, and
consequently the expression used is rather abstract. But what I search for is a presence per se.
The way it appears in the light created by details of geography or a certain season. Or the
way it is folded in memories as tones of warmth, darkness, pain, shimmer.
My paintings are organized by relative truths. A particular red is what it is only because of
the surroundings it relates to. Upon these relations I build equations of different colors,
materials, scales, textures. I use pigment and oil, beeswax, metals, silver and gold paints,
pencil, etc. The surfaces are painted, plastered, scratched and rubbed. At the same time,
abstract issues are translated into material choices.
A significant influence on my work is my master's degree in architecture from The Cranbrook
Academy of Art in the U.S.A. At Cranbrook, architecture is considered a visual art in the way
of, say, sculpture or painting, and the boundaries between disciplines are de-emphasized. The
focus lies on individual studio work based on a theoretical grounding. Formative to my
insight was the influence of phenomenology introduced by the
Head of Department Dan Hoffman.
Once in a while it happens that the fly finds an open window and comes in, but for some
reason goes back and continues to beat at the glass pane.
Well, did Sisyphus abandon his boulder?
Kaisa Soini 2008
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