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Vice Blog

SCANDINAVIA -A PEEK AT HANNALEENA HEISKA

Fine arts oil painter Hannaleena Heiska is part of that new wave of Odd Nerdrum-type painters, who are both skilled and good, as opposed to skilled and boring. Intricacy is traditionally something that dudes try to lay claim to, but contrary to a lot of the young painters graduating from snazzy London schools that're all about Vermeer and perfect light, Hannaleena seems to have stepped right out of a teenage girl's fantasy. If you were wondering where to go next with this whole unicorns and wolves motif thing, here's your answer. We asked her to pick some of her current favourites, and tell us a little bit about the things her pretty, naïve, slightly disturbing images might mean to someone who's actually been to art school.

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I am currently influenced by the metal and gothic music scenes from my youth. But I am also portraying a kind of northern mentality, which connects closely to both those music scenes. They both started out very underground but now they've turned mainstream, at least in Finland, thus opening a path to darker aesthetics, as well as mysticism. Symbols of death have become commonplace, even widely accepted, while their origins in gothic or romantic art have been obscured.


Cryptic Winterstorms, 2007

The characters in my most recent paintings are often hybrids between humans and animals. The animal heads work as masks when placed on a human body. Throughout history, everyday life has been linked to the spirit-world with the help of masks. I place masks, typical for contemporary popular culture as seen in the worlds of metal and goth, in the framework of today's social rituals and role-playing.


Stargazer, 2007
And Love Said No, 2008 I've also been using imagery usually found in tattooing, on decorative and symbolic levels. Tattoos are associated with multiple meanings and associations, ranging from mere vanity to deeper levels, such as spirituality and cultural semantics. Tattoos have been used on inflictive purposes but also as auspicious symbols, like talismans against evil.
Heaven Tonight, 2006 I find painting the most interesting and challenging way to bring out ideas. When working with installations I mostly conceive space as an empty canvas. For example my installation Heaven Tonight is based on 80s fantasy posters, where dolphins are jumping and swimming in nocturnal seas. When I had the idea to transform a flat poster to three-dimensional form, I thought about composition same way as I think when I paint.

HANALEENA HEISKA

Hannaleena Heiska's next exhibitions will be in Norway, at Moss, Momentum 2009, the 5th Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art, in August.