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)
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)
Current information
2023 LIGHT, JOY, SHADOW, Gallery Laikku,Tampere2023 MIME, Gallery Becker, Jyväskylä
2022 HIDEAWAY, Gallery Pirkko-Liisa Topelius, Helsinki