For 20 years now Jyväskylä artists Riitta Uusitalo and Jyrki Markkanen have operated as a graphic design duo and for equally long as printmakers in their own right, using almost opposite techniques. Behind them lie numerous exhibitions, both joint and individual.
Many people say that being an artist is a way of life. Now and again I just have to take a break from art-centred thinking. Involvement with art is an important matter, but at times its good to talk with other people about something other than art, artist Riitta Uusitalo admits.
In her opinion art demands of its producer an inborn need to be alone, since many artists can retire to their studios for long periods at a time. For Uusitalo a work in progress is indeed the most rewarding phase in the making of art.
The pieces that I manage to finish are no longer interesting. On the other hand it is good that I dont take a fancy to a finished piece otherwise working on a new job would be hard to get started.
In Uusitalos view the richness of art lies precisely in its manysidedness. During her career she has produced works of very different kinds, but horses and various plants are recurring subjects of her art.
At the moment orchids have a fascination for me and Ive travelled as far as Madeira to draw them. On one trip I bumped into Seppo Lappalainen, a poet from Kajaani, Uusitalo recounts.
Uusitalo never thought she would one day be illustrating poems. She was sufficiently interested in Lappalainens poems, however, that she started reading them and immediately also took a liking to his work.
Poems contain extremely powerful emotions, which suits me perfectly, since I like to use strong colours in my works. Illustrating poems is challenging, because now the emotions encapsulated in them do not emanate from me, but from another individual, Uusitalo continues.
In the other half of the artistic duo, Jyrki Markkanen, Uusitalo admires above all his persistence.
Jyrki has the stamina to correct even the smallest of things, until hes absolutely satisfied. Hes also studied techniques abroad and developed them to suit himself. I just dont possess that kind of patience, Uusitalo says with a laugh.
Jyrki Markkanens works are frequently associated with how a person sees him- or herself. In many cases his creations draw on subjects from popular culture.
An individual always tries to be better, more beautiful and just about everything in-between. People are constantly competing about who is the best of all and this is reflected in TV programmes in particular, Markkanen ventures.
According to Markkanen what is challenging in producing art is that the artist has to stand fully behind his or her own works. Furthermore, these works also have to strike a chord with the public.
Art demands of its creator internal peace and the capacity to go into things, as well as the ability to build a world of ones own. In addition youve got to be able to market both yourself and your own pieces to different kinds of people. For me the greatest reward is when my work is chosen for inclusion in major exhibitions abroad, states Markkanen.
Three years ago Markkanen was involved in a joint project with Jyväskylä scriptwriter and theatre director Panu Pitkänen and Helsinki media artist Jari Haanperä. The resulting multimedia exhibition entitled Well-Well Fight over Oil had a profound influence on Markkanen.
I depicted a science fiction story as a series of prints. A strange fantasy world has repeated itself in my work subsequent to that event, too, Markkanen reveals. In Riitta Uusitalo Markkanen admires creativity, her capacity for free drawing and the use of line and colours.
Above all I admire her sense of humour. I hope I have learned to get away from the dark conceptions of the world that characterize my own works and just maybe they now contain a certain amount of fun, too, Markkanen concludes.
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Photo (above): According to Jyrki Markkanen what is challenging in producing art is that the artist has to stand fully behind his or her own works.
Photo (below): For Riitta Uusitalo a work in progress is indeed the most rewarding phase in the making of art.
Jyrki Markkanen: Well-Well Man, 2006
Riitta Uusitalo: Woodcut illustrations for Seppo Lappalainens poems
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By Hanna Huovinen, Photos by Petteri Kivimäki
