Raija Jokinen
Basic information
b. 1960, Karkku
Visual Artist, Paper Artist, Other
Artist’s Statement
My artistic approach is focused on the everyday feelings and situations and I observe the relationship of the emotional and physical surrounding, including our body and mind.
Visually my works are often based on body-related details, such as skin, blood vessels and nerve tracks and they intersect with the forms of roots or branches without representing either of them. I am excited in their apparent similarity and infinite variation together with the life-support functions they represent and how these visual allegories can be found in almost all living organisms.
My works may reveal the idea with a figurative or an abstract, many-faced and delicate manner. I like to break intangible things into pieces and, in a way, rename or reorganize them by using the material structure. I am looking for analogies to the material and immaterial structures and the closest features appear in own our bodies. Very often in these cases, the question arises about what is really tangible and what is not and where is the borderline between physical things and emotions.
My art works are made of flax and the working method can be compared to painting and drawing, but the "paint" is the fiber that is normally used e.g. as a base material for oil paintings. In addition, I use stitching to form “drawn” lines. My methods and materials are also related with handmade paper techniques and sculpturing. The technique I’ve developed could therefore be located in the meeting point of the techniques in painting, sculpturing, graphic art and textile.
Although my works are looking fragile they are durable and light-weighted and can be easily hanged and displayed also without frames.
Visually my works are often based on body-related details, such as skin, blood vessels and nerve tracks and they intersect with the forms of roots or branches without representing either of them. I am excited in their apparent similarity and infinite variation together with the life-support functions they represent and how these visual allegories can be found in almost all living organisms.
My works may reveal the idea with a figurative or an abstract, many-faced and delicate manner. I like to break intangible things into pieces and, in a way, rename or reorganize them by using the material structure. I am looking for analogies to the material and immaterial structures and the closest features appear in own our bodies. Very often in these cases, the question arises about what is really tangible and what is not and where is the borderline between physical things and emotions.
My art works are made of flax and the working method can be compared to painting and drawing, but the "paint" is the fiber that is normally used e.g. as a base material for oil paintings. In addition, I use stitching to form “drawn” lines. My methods and materials are also related with handmade paper techniques and sculpturing. The technique I’ve developed could therefore be located in the meeting point of the techniques in painting, sculpturing, graphic art and textile.
Although my works are looking fragile they are durable and light-weighted and can be easily hanged and displayed also without frames.
