Salla Myllylä
1961, Helsinki
printmaking
A hand is painting an outline of a tree on a window on a sunny spring day. People and cars are passing by in the suburban backyard. The painting advances little by little.
The work describes a gesture of mark-making and note-taking in an everyday environment. As a result, a kind of moving painting is created on the window. Its background adjusts itself automatically to the colour of the ambient light. The painted background tries to focus the attention of the viewer on the tree, but the aperture leaks: cars dashing by behind the tree top reveal the reality.
For over a year I have been working on the idea of drawing an outline or a mask on a video image physically: by painting, scratching or using masking tape. The idea was born out of a frustration with lense- based images; it seemed impossible to direct the attention of the viewer to the things I wanted. The task is in some way easier if one paints or draws, but a direct relation- ship with reality is lost. This is my attempt to solve the problem.
My Tree, 2-channel video installation, 2012
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