Outi Kotala
Basic information
b. 1974, Rovaniemi
Artist, service designer
Residence: Tampere
Contact information
Email: outi(ät)outikotala.net
Artist’s Statement
In her art making Kotala seeks equanimity and stillness of mind, freedom from internal and external expectations. As an artist, she sees herself as a conduit for inspiration. Her artistic working method means refining abstract artwork until the pieces click into place on the canvas, making the artwork find a balanced vibration. The work is lit with internal light.
Essential part of Kotala's artistic process is meditation. The simplified symbols for her abstract works often show themselves to her in meditation, sometimes in dreams. These archetypal themes are pre-eminently aesthetic in nature, relying on the expressive power of colors.
To counterbalance her studio work Kotala does plein-air painting in nature, especially in the summer. Landscape painting is returning to the concrete, a liberation from the diligent attention to abstraction and clarity in her abstract art.
Kotala's art has been strongly inspired by her long student-apprenticeship to late abstract artist Matti Kurki, who was the co-founder of Finnish private art school "Avoin taidekoulu". Her personal mission is to find interiority.
Essential part of Kotala's artistic process is meditation. The simplified symbols for her abstract works often show themselves to her in meditation, sometimes in dreams. These archetypal themes are pre-eminently aesthetic in nature, relying on the expressive power of colors.
To counterbalance her studio work Kotala does plein-air painting in nature, especially in the summer. Landscape painting is returning to the concrete, a liberation from the diligent attention to abstraction and clarity in her abstract art.
Kotala's art has been strongly inspired by her long student-apprenticeship to late abstract artist Matti Kurki, who was the co-founder of Finnish private art school "Avoin taidekoulu". Her personal mission is to find interiority.
