Pasi January

In the early 80s, my father gave me a Guinness Book of Records as a Christmas present. It said that according to the information at the time, the oldest living tree was a 5,000-year-old oak. In my play, I began to imagine a tree looking at humanity, following people in movement, drawing a shape through time.

Movement creates form. Ten years later, with the works of Francis Bacon, this thought came back to me. As in Bacon’s works, the figures in my paintings appear in a space that can be thought of as a stage. What this scene is is left to the viewer to interpret. The fabrics in the background, the darkness and the blinding light hide the larger whole that each scene is connected to.

Just as central as movement is in my works, is also stopping, being still and waiting.
The artist in the painting is immersed in his own inner reality, but leaves his ears outside to listen.