Still Life Polka Dot 2022( Dendrocopos major/ Kasakallio, Helsinki), Aphant Archives No.1
3 insect display cases á 400mm x 300mm x 50mm, feathers, insect pins
In between making short films I have made some artworks that are assembled from different entities of objects- things-, usually collected from flea markets, second hand shops or found by chance in places like abandoned houses or in the nature.
The feathers of this Great spotted woodpecker were found on one of my trips picking mushrooms in a suburban forest of Helsinki. I was inspired by the “imperfection” of the white spots on the black feathers; the form of the white spot was never completely round, rather cut in the edges which triggered me to play with the feathers as pieces of a puzzle trying to complete the form of a white circle.
Around 2020, after being a visual artist already over twenty years, I realized that I have Aphantasia; a variation in human cognition which means that I cannot create mental images in my mind. The only exception – in my case – is in my sleep, as I dream. Suddenly my path as an artist and a painter who had struggled with a recurrent issue about what to paint, and that had turned towards making installations and film, made sense. Suddenly I realized that my way of imagining was different from the ones who have a minds eye, and that I need a variety of input and reference materials from which to draw.
Still Life Polka Dot is the first consciously made art piece of the Aphant Archives, but looking to my past, all my works seem to be parts of it. Time will show how the collection grows.