The title of Anita Naukkarinen’s (b.1986) new exhibition, Nodes, carries numerous meanings. It can refer to a place where something begins, for instance, the place where a leaf is attached to a stem or a branch to a tree trunk. Naukkarinen’s paintings study the various nodes that connect us to the environment. The artist has stated that we have reached a turning point calling for the urgent redefinition of the relationship between humans and the natural world. Naukkarinen feels it is important for us to reflect on how our feelings of separateness from the external world are formed on a subjective level. What kind of mechanisms creates a sense of separateness or oneness between us, and the world around us?
Naukkarinen’s plant-themed paintings have the wispy quality of watercolors, but they are painted in oils. They possess a quiet restfulness, as a soft sigh breathed upon the canvas, the ethereal treatment of form being accompanied by a luminous palette of pastels. Focusing purely on the essentials, Naukkarinen strips away all extraneous elements – sometimes, a soft touch has greater power, and sensitivity calls for great courage. Although her latest paintings are plant-themed, the artist has said that the underlying philosophical idea relates to more than just the botanical world. Nodes define the place or spot where lines and systems intersect. Naukkarinen regards painting as an act of intimacy and presence, a form of reaching out beyond oneself. Painting is a way of expressing one’s interconnectedness with the world.
Anita Naukkarinen studied at the Fine Arts Academy of Finland, and her works are found in numerous private collections. The artist is based in Helsinki.
