Heli Kurunsaari

Printmaking

1971, Lapua

 

I wish to keep my working process open-ended, unrestricted and undefined. I trust in the image, execution and the wisdom of the coincidence. I may not be able to recognise the knowledge that I possess, but a picture gives that knowledge a possibility to become organised and acquire a shape. Occasionally, the picture will reveal this to me. Sometimes the viewer of the picture tells me what it is. The artist’s knowledge is a problematic concept as it cannot be quantified or defined with existing concepts. However, it is possible to convey, experience, feel and recognise knowledge. Optimally, artworks function as meeting points, images with which the viewer may talk about themselves to themselves. In other words, art is a tool, space and place for thinking, both for the viewer and for the artist.

At the same time, I can see some kinds of containers or warehouses in my incipient pictures. Visual moneyboxes for emotions, fears, thoughts, demands or good intentions. They are familiar dollops, resembling things like an aubergine, a lump, a submarine, a hippopotamus, a seal or a pile. A successful work will store, convey and transmit energy to its environment. Perhaps a lump will turn out to be a battery or a source of power for surprising emergencies.

 

Heli Kurunsaari: Voittaja saa mummon, 2012