People say to me.<\/em> Hel\u00e9n Frankenthaler (1928-2011)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s how I would answer that question, too. Hel\u00e9n Frankenthaler is one of the artists I admire most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a lot happens in the mind before the painting process starts. I follow current global issues as well as matters related to the past, such as climate change, the COVID 19 pandemic, the cruel war and other things that show how humans meet their fellow species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then the reflections begin to shape my expression through emotion in finding colors, light, form for my painting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And this just goes on and on, and it absorbs new forms and pathways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The name of this exhibition: \u201cand I walk and I walk\u201d describes a continuous spiritual, creative journey that seems never-ending. I always strive for something new for myself in my expression. The idea for the exhibition came into being when the COVID 19 pandemic started in early 2020. At that time I was working at the Grassina residence of the Finnish Society of Artists in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isolation and fear due to pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In February 2022 I was in Grassina again. Then came the Russian attack on Ukraine and the horror because of the war. The works are mainly acrylic paintings and mixed media, colors, light, lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leena Halonen (1946) lives in Vantaa and in Koski as. village in Perni\u00f6 Salo. Her studio is in Espoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is a full member of the Finnish Painters\u2019 Union and also belongs to the Espoo Visual Artists and the Vantaa Artists’ Society, the Viipuri Artists’ Society. In addition, she belongs to the Florentine Societ\u00e1 delle Belle Arti -Circolo Degli Artisti “Casa di Dante” society, in whose gallery he has had two exhibitions and where he has participated in the club’s joint exhibitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She has completed her art studies as a student of several Finnish art pedagogues, studying drawing, color perception, color analysis and painting, and other painting skills in the courses of Free Art School (Vapaa Taidekoulu) for several years.
-How do you feel in the middle of making a picture?<\/em>
\u2013 I can\u2019t answer. I think something takes over\u2026 you\u2019re lost in it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me they have been violent and hurtful experiences. As a reaction, my first paintings were dramatic (\u201cwhat prevents us from leaving\u201d, \u201ccold as a flame\u201d). Sometimes I consciously decided to calm down the expression (\u201cshadow\u201d). The emotional state of mind continues the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Work above: Leena Halonen, \u201cCold as a flame\u201d, acrylic on canvas, diptych, 2 x 130 x 200 cm, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n