Elisa Rovamo

Basic information

Visual Artist
Residence: Helsinki

Artist’s Statement

My painting is like a wall, onto which I draw by painting and paint by drawing.

It brings forth imaginary human-like figures, moving on the border of the representational and the abstract. Even their small fragments, gestures and positions create meanings and evoke feelings.
Oftentimes, a painting has only one simplified figure set against a plain background. The slightest details convey a sense of timelessness and allow space for the beholder's own imaginings.

I search for content on the level of the representational and the abstract: I ask the painting, what story does it tell and what takes place in it, in terms of form?

My work explores the relationship between painting and drawing, as well the possibilities of using subtle means expression to create drama and convey emotion. In my more recent pieces, I search for a dialogue between line and surface. It is the movement of colour and drawing, and their relation to one another, which gives a piece its content and intensity.

For a long time, I have portrayed the body´s ability to express emotions wordlessly, using language of gestures and movement. The stroke of a brush fascinates me, as it is an illustrator of motion and an interpreter of emotional states of being. I study how the moving and sensory strokes created by the hand guiding the brush, and in turn the slight fragment of the representational figure, create meanings.

Born is something stirring beneath the surface, yet to be moulded into its final form only in the mind of the beholder. Paintings are open to notions, interpretations and narratives. They reflect the subconscious and hidden feelings of the beholder.

(Käännös: Natalia Baczynska Kimberley)
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Current information

2023 LIGHT, JOY, SHADOW, Gallery Laikku,Tampere

2023 MIME, Gallery Becker, Jyväskylä

2022  HIDEAWAY, Gallery Pirkko-Liisa Topelius, Helsinki

Bio

Elisa Rovamo lives and works in Helsinki. She has studied art history at the University of Helsinki, and has graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki UIAH (currently Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture). She has also studied at the Free Art School in Helsinki. Rovamo's main mediums are acrylic and oil. She has held 15 solo exhibitions since 2002, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions throughout her career. Rovamo is a member of the Finnish Painters' Union, as well as the Helsinki Artists' Association.