Susanna Seriola-Vesa

STATEMENT

Drawing and painting have been a natural way to express myself since childhood. I educated myself in University of Industrial Arts Helsinki as an interior architect, and practised both design work and art for several years. For the last ten years I've been focusing only on painting.

The primary influence of my paintings comes from ancient history and mythology. I've always been facinated of worn, patinated surfaces, walls, murals, frescos. I start my painting process by creating a multi layered, rough and textured canvas. Then I decide what to paint on it since my paintings are figurative.

Major part of my themes are animal figures or human faces, which with I express my emotions and matters that I feel the need to deal with. With animal figures it is easier to reflect even on awkward issues, whereas human figures make more direct reaction.

I paint with acrylic colours, because they dry fast and allow me to add thick layers of paint on another. The final surface is a mixture of tens of layers of different colours and tones, that makes my paintings unique and identifiable.