Coming up

I've always been afraid of snakes. When I was a child, I watched my steps on warm summer days since every stick and straw on the gravel road leading up to our home could have come alive, scaly and hissing. At nights I pictured vipers under or on the foot of my bed, between the sheets. More than the bite, I was afraid of encountering the snake, its presence in my sphere of experience.

Last summer I started driving school and had sleepless nights again. I had mental images of running over a pedestrian, causing a pile-up or making the slightest mistake, which could not only be dangerous but also embarrassing. One night I replaced these thoughts by recollecting every snake I had ever met, their colours, the patterns on their backs and sides, the coiling of their limbless bodies. Soon I was asleep.

The paintings in this exhibition portray fictionalized events from my life. The characters, me, my partner, my dog, and my friends, are recognizable but they also adopt different roles which express certain moods and meditations. Accompanying the characters are verdant plants, everyday objects and snakes showing up slithering, while the surroundings are bordered by walls and chain-linked fences. With each painting I have aimed for an intact whole which, through bright color combinations and expressive painting, radiates feverish and dreamlike ambience.

I try to find meaning from everyday things, thoughts and feelings through painting. I create connections between the portrayed elements by painting them to reflect the colors and light of each other and by employing here and there references to cultural history and art history. The central themes of the exhibition, emerging from my own life, are detachment from compulsive rationalization and rumination and opening up for the enchantment of the inexplicable in the world.

Maaria Jokimies (b. 1992) lives and works in Helsinki. Maaria graduated from the Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2022 (MFA). Maaria’s works have been shown lately in HAA Gallery and Gallery Huuto in Helsinki, Studio Mältinranta in Tampere and Taidekeskus Purnu in Orivesi.

The exhibition is supported by the Finnish Art Society.