Jussi Pirttioja ^{Emerging artist}

Artist's country of origin: Finland

Before my Master studies in Kuva I started professionally as an artist in 2016, when I graduated from Saimaa University of applied Sciences in Imatra (painting faculty). After that I moved to Lappeenranta where I had a studio. I have been a part of the Artists Association of South-Carelia and had solo shows annually, and taken part in over 30 group-exhibitions in Finland and internationally.

In my practice I`m looking for a mixture between chance and control. When work starts I have a vague phantasm that I aim for: a ghost of a painting that I start to chase, but on the other hand I try to leave room for free play and fun in the process.

My works are more concerned with the structure, composition and inner logic of the painting rather than specific subject matter. My roots as an artist are in representation and figure, so I take pleasure in representing the human body, but for me it is just an excuse to enjoy the sensuality of the painting process. Also I like to play with the body image by distorting it. Mixing it with other random subject matter and mass of objects. I feel this works well with my interest in process-ontological thinking, where the subject is only an coincidental side-product but not the main focus or the protagonist. I used to work from photo references, but recently I have been using free association automatic drawing as the skeleton of my paintings.

My artististic journey has been supported by Art Promotion Centre for Carelian Culture, Art Promotion Centre of Finland, Finnish Art Society, Finnish Cultural Foundation and William and Ester Otsakorpi Foundation with works in collections of the Finnish State, Art Centre Salmela and Helia-Foundation.