Grit and silt, Galleria G, Helsinki 2023
The works in the exhibition have been developing over the past couple of years, materialising in their present form during the first months of 2023.
I have painted places and spaces in which I have spent, or would have liked to spend, more time. The paintings and drawings show some of the aims I have consciously and subconsciously set for myself. I have been wanting to paint recognisable motives, let colours meet on the surface, and allow my brushstrokes to be visible.
Routines and spaces of daily life ebb and flow into my work. In the ivory tower of my studio, I transform the slipping muddiness, the grit and silt of our courtyard sandbox, ordering water and texture into a composed surface; a painting.
Routines and spaces of daily life ebb and flow into my work. In the ivory tower of my studio, I transform the slipping muddiness, the grit and silt of our courtyard sandbox, ordering water and texture into a composed surface; a painting.
The exhibition consists of fresco and watercolour paintings, lithographs and a colouring book for children.
Mazzano fountain, 2022
Fresco on board, 30 x 40 cm
Installation shot from group exhibition In Continuous Dialogue, curated and photographed by Noora Lehtovuori
Fresco on board, 30 x 40 cm
Installation shot from group exhibition In Continuous Dialogue, curated and photographed by Noora Lehtovuori
Varjoilija, 2021-22
Ink and watercolour on fabric, ca. 150 x 450 cm
Ink and watercolour on fabric, ca. 150 x 450 cm
Soft hands, soft feet (working title), Galerie Pleiku, Berlin 2022
At the center of my exhibition Soft hands, soft feet (working title) stands the painting Imagined picture. It shows a scene of four figures gazing towards a point beyond the frame of the painting. The motif is taken from a fresco by Altichiero da Zevio from the 1470s, details of which I photographed on a trip to Padova. I returned to these photographs from 2018 when traveling to Italy for a residency in November 2021. I wondered what these strangely soft feet and hands were that I had photographed. I compiled sets of colours to recreate the harmonious colour fields of the original painting through small painted dots. The experience of painting these dots compares to scrolling through endless random images and videos on my phone, turning into mere flickers of digital colour and light over time.
Soft hands, soft feet (working title) consists of five paintings and a small exhibition catalogue.
At the center of my exhibition Soft hands, soft feet (working title) stands the painting Imagined picture. It shows a scene of four figures gazing towards a point beyond the frame of the painting. The motif is taken from a fresco by Altichiero da Zevio from the 1470s, details of which I photographed on a trip to Padova. I returned to these photographs from 2018 when traveling to Italy for a residency in November 2021. I wondered what these strangely soft feet and hands were that I had photographed. I compiled sets of colours to recreate the harmonious colour fields of the original painting through small painted dots. The experience of painting these dots compares to scrolling through endless random images and videos on my phone, turning into mere flickers of digital colour and light over time.
Soft hands, soft feet (working title) consists of five paintings and a small exhibition catalogue.
Washes, whispers, 2020
While painting I was thinking of automatic painting and drawing - the notion that something exterior to the artist tells her what to paint. Does this something also tell her how to execute the painting or drawing? Once again I found myself facing those two difficult questions: what to paint and how to paint. Being overwhelmed, trying to find the answer to both, I settled for one. H o w do I want to paint?
Washes, whispers by Annaliisa Krage consists of a series of watercolour paintings that were made specifically for their reproduction in print. By being composed only of the basic printing colours, cyan, magenta and yellow, the paintings flirt with their means of reproduction. At an ideal level, the printer reenacts the process of painting by gradually mixing the hues and reproducing the slight variations in tone and intensity present throughout the painting.
While painting I was thinking of automatic painting and drawing - the notion that something exterior to the artist tells her what to paint. Does this something also tell her how to execute the painting or drawing? Once again I found myself facing those two difficult questions: what to paint and how to paint. Being overwhelmed, trying to find the answer to both, I settled for one. H o w do I want to paint?
Washes, whispers by Annaliisa Krage consists of a series of watercolour paintings that were made specifically for their reproduction in print. By being composed only of the basic printing colours, cyan, magenta and yellow, the paintings flirt with their means of reproduction. At an ideal level, the printer reenacts the process of painting by gradually mixing the hues and reproducing the slight variations in tone and intensity present throughout the painting.
Paulas Garten, 2019
Pencil, tempera and oil on plaster, 22 x 20 cm
Pencil, tempera and oil on plaster, 22 x 20 cm
Licht und Farbe 2 (light and colour 2), 2020
Oil on plaster, 6 x 2,5 x 1,5 cm
Licht und Farbe 1 (light and colour 1), 2019
Oil on plaster, 6 x 2,5 x 1,5 cm
Photo: Mateusz Dworczyk
finestra aperta, 2019
finestra aperta consists of monochrome watercolour paintings printed on separate cards. The flat paintings show windows taken from Early Renaissance frescoes that were traced from catalogues and photographs. The cards were printed in a single colour each, mimicking the way in which they were painted.
I want this to last, Gallery Cubeplus, Kiel 2019
I want this to last is based on the architectonic composition of paintings from the late Middle-Ages and the Renaissance in Italy that show The Annunciation to Mother Mary. The watercolour-painting shows a space destilled from frescoes and tableaus that depict the annunciation. The frescoes in the exhibition materialise elements, shapes and colours, from the watercolour-painting into the exhibition space. The viewer may thereby become part of the composition.
Need you by my side, 2018
Need you by my side reconstructs a room in the Convent of San Marco in Florence. By indicating the fresco of Fra Angelico on the wall, the window into the garden of the convent and the step in front of the window, the installation reflects on looking at a painting so as to look through the painting into another world.
Can’t you feel my heart beat fast, Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki 2018
The Can’t you feel my heart beat fast -exhibition consists of small watercolour paintings and painted objects.
The paintings refer back to paintings of the late Middle Ages from South-Asia as well as Italy through their technique, colour and composition. The watercolours are painted employing the brushwork of traditional Pakistani miniature painting. They quote a tradition of painting in which paintings visualise the stories of written text. The narrative spaces of my paintings show only traces of what might be or might have been.
The painted objects bring elements from the watercolour paintings into the exhibition space. Through them the installation of the exhibition as a whole refers directly back to the composition of the watercolours and the viewer may step into the paintings while walking amongst them.
Vorschlag für eine Malkabine (Suggestion for a painting cabin), 2018
The painting cabin consists of four elements of equal size that, by setting them up at a wall, form a workspace of 2 sqm. The painting cabin facilitates unobserved painting in shared studios and keeps the unfinished painting safe from external glances.