Artist's statement
My mother used to weave rugs using rag threads made of used clothes. Already in my childhood, when sitting next to her by the loom I got influenced by the world of designs and colors. Maybe that was the reason why I made textile works during my early years as an artist. However, the two dimensional surface didn’t satisfy me and I wanted to move towards three dimensional expression.
I started experimenting with the copper thread in early 1990’s.
I made small sculptures in which I used different kinds of weaves. Soon I started to combine different materials in miniature sculptures.
By the time I was doing my diploma work for the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 1998 I had given up the threads and I was completely focusing on using waste materials. When digging through junk yards I realised that metal and especially copper are my materials. I also started to use waste material of the IT industry. At that time I wanted to be as far away from the textile arts as possible and I left it behind me.
Different materials wake up a feeling in me. The materials shape up to an artwork, or a part of it, but the process may take a long time. When using readymade objects, I first revise it so that its original shape and use disappears. To me a readymade object is a part of the artwork, which I harness to be a suitable messenger to my story.
I got familiar with using acrylic glass when I was making an altarpiece for a chapel. At that time I was cutting thick acrylic glass and combined that with light. The light conducts on the cutted surface. I have continued to work with the fascinating world of acrylic. The material conducts light and shapes in many forms depending on the way it’s worked. Crystal glimmers in light and different materials shimmer in a dimly cool way.
Nowadays the material or the method doesn’t matter anymore but the message of the work has become the most important thing.