Marja-Liisa Jokitalo
Basic information
b. 1964, Oulu
Visual Artist, Painter
Residence: LAHTI
Contact information
Phone number: +358 (40) 5353 745
Email: mljokitalo(at)hotmail.com
Artist’s Statement
Background for My Work
In my oil paintings, I study color and the expressive power of color. Seemingly simple things are interesting. Several of my paintings are based on nature experiences; some kind of light that has stuck in my mind on the way to my atelier – light falling through leafless tree branches in May in a forest full of morning mist or the pale light seeping through frozen grass after a frosty night in October. When planning a painting, in addition to a concrete experience with light and color, an essential thing that I’m thinking about is the mood connected with a situation; for example, strangeness, longing, sorrow, happiness, passion, waiting. Trying to dig these feelings out using a canvas and oil paints, depicting and expressing them is meaningful for me when painting. Painting is a means to make the invisible visible. Through a painting, you can see the world a little clearer.
Other important things in my work are the physical aspect, comprehensive sensations, sensuality. I paint both very small and very large works. Moving from one end of the scale to the other offers physical freedom in my work. I feel that this freedom also shows in the content of the paintings. I depict the fact that life is fragile and powerful at the same time.
Time and Layers in Painting
In my opinion, the fact that painting takes time – both for the viewer and the painter – is an advantage. Both when painting and in the finished painting, you can experience time in a different way than usually in our busy everyday life and fast-paced modern life. Presence in front of a painting requires time and energy but at the same time, you can just enjoy being there, at that moment and in that place.
Paintings form layers through time. Days pass by, the light changes every day as the Earth moves in relation to the Sun. Light from yesterday, today and tomorrow forms layers in paintings. In unison, the layers create the painting’s time that is a concentration of the time used in making the painting – several intermixed points in time are visible. I believe that a painting is like a slow-motion image. In a painting, time concentrates into space. In my paintings, I am seeking for this feeling of slowness, a still moment, timelessness brought on by the layers of time. The feeling that all that has been, is and will be is right here. At best, a painting can be a small piece of eternity. The simultaneous fragility and power of life hides behind the momentary nature of our lives and its relation to the inevitable passing of time. It is important for me to be able to achieve an experience of existing leisurely and quietly together with the viewer.
In my oil paintings, I study color and the expressive power of color. Seemingly simple things are interesting. Several of my paintings are based on nature experiences; some kind of light that has stuck in my mind on the way to my atelier – light falling through leafless tree branches in May in a forest full of morning mist or the pale light seeping through frozen grass after a frosty night in October. When planning a painting, in addition to a concrete experience with light and color, an essential thing that I’m thinking about is the mood connected with a situation; for example, strangeness, longing, sorrow, happiness, passion, waiting. Trying to dig these feelings out using a canvas and oil paints, depicting and expressing them is meaningful for me when painting. Painting is a means to make the invisible visible. Through a painting, you can see the world a little clearer.
Other important things in my work are the physical aspect, comprehensive sensations, sensuality. I paint both very small and very large works. Moving from one end of the scale to the other offers physical freedom in my work. I feel that this freedom also shows in the content of the paintings. I depict the fact that life is fragile and powerful at the same time.
Time and Layers in Painting
In my opinion, the fact that painting takes time – both for the viewer and the painter – is an advantage. Both when painting and in the finished painting, you can experience time in a different way than usually in our busy everyday life and fast-paced modern life. Presence in front of a painting requires time and energy but at the same time, you can just enjoy being there, at that moment and in that place.
Paintings form layers through time. Days pass by, the light changes every day as the Earth moves in relation to the Sun. Light from yesterday, today and tomorrow forms layers in paintings. In unison, the layers create the painting’s time that is a concentration of the time used in making the painting – several intermixed points in time are visible. I believe that a painting is like a slow-motion image. In a painting, time concentrates into space. In my paintings, I am seeking for this feeling of slowness, a still moment, timelessness brought on by the layers of time. The feeling that all that has been, is and will be is right here. At best, a painting can be a small piece of eternity. The simultaneous fragility and power of life hides behind the momentary nature of our lives and its relation to the inevitable passing of time. It is important for me to be able to achieve an experience of existing leisurely and quietly together with the viewer.
