“The idea for this exhibition complex came from the idea that I had in my mind for a long time, that I want to make a clearly bigger single exhibition complex. When an exhibition was proposed to me, where the works would tell about me and my life, this idea became clear and ideas and subjects for the works began to flood.
For several years now, I have depicted myself in my works, sometimes very clearly, sometimes hidden. I often draw subjects for my works directly from my own life and my own emotional world, from how I see and experience things. And about how I feel that others see me. From a very early age, that “strange girl” label has been on my forehead and has defined who I am. When I was young, that label felt like a burden and something that always separated me from others and prevented me from belonging. But the older I’ve gotten here, the more proudly I’ve learned to wear that stamp. Today, it’s more of a crown on my head than a stigma.”
My hermit nature, my love for horror and my dislike for summer and the sun are, for example, those strange things that describe me very well, which I bring out in these works. And at the same time as a recluse I want to hide from everyone, I love the limelight and stage shows and I want everyone to see me.
In my latest works, instead of a self-portrait, very 50s-style Playboy pinup pictures began to form. It’s a bit like a homecoming, because those pictures are where my love for painting women and female bodies started. And I always come back to those pictures. The circle closes this time too.
SAANA KOSKINEN alias MOLLY MOONSTONE
Molly Moonstone (b.1982) is a versatile artist who, in addition to burlesque, has become known both as a singer who has performed around the world and as a visual artist.
During the last 10 years, Moonstone’s works have been exhibited in e.g. Helsinki Tiketti Gallery, Croatia, Las Vegas, Walt Disney Family Museum, Hyvinkää City Museum and two Tiki Oasis group exhibitions in Scottsdale, Arizona and San Diego, California.
Moonstone is a self-taught visual artist. He lives and works in Kallio, Helsinki.
The themes of warm acrylic paintings come to Moonstone from the close worlds of pinup, Disney, comics, superheroes, burlesque and vintage. Bright colors, romance, eroticism, love and warmth and a touch of Halloween magic shine in the historical works. Spaces and characters recognizable from popular culture are combined with wild and exotic, everyday and festive, burlesque dancers and tigers. Moonstone has become especially known for its shapely female figures, whose bodies exude dangerous curves and sensual sensuality.
Molly Moonstone once became known as the frontwoman and singer of the band Miss Saana & The Missionaries. Since 2013, she has been known by the stage name Molly Moonstone.
