Artists Statement
In the early 1990’s I was walking the streets of Helsinki and the tearing down of the used-to-be wealthy banks’ neon signs caught my eye. Financial crisis was happening and not even the taxpayer’s money that was fed in to the banks was saved when the bankruptcies took place. When I asked what was going to happen the neon sing letters, the answer was: They’re going to the dump. I asked if I could have the letters for myself and after some negotiations the letters were transported to my studio. I found it interesting how once so mighty banks’ logos could just like that turn into a pile of junk. What was a life of a neon sign letter? I started to work with the letters, I counted them and started to reorganize them into new words and meanings. The letters became carriers of hidden meanings and they slowly revealed their lives to me. I turned the letters into objects, I painted and photographed them and used them in my paintings. These letters still posses deep meanings to me. They became symbols of power that can vanish in a moment. It is my wish to continue working with this project.