Helene II | Jukka Rusanen

"Like still life, it also has to do with tradition and, of course, with the depiction of man. I usually paint portraits of women, mainly of artists whose art interests me. Among them is Helene Schjerfbeck, whose impressive self-portraits I have interpreted several times. [...] I feel that these faces are an almost inexhaustible source of lived life and humanity. I admire her art very much because it is born from the inner compulsion of the artist. I think that a crystallized work of art should show that it is a necessity for its creator. Otherwise, it can easily become a picture where the artist's aspirations lie outside the work. However, I cannot yet say why other artists' self-portraits concern me. Perhaps it is a process that I will only be able to understand later." — Jukka Rusanen

The Finnish artist Jukka Rusanen (*1980) inspires with his refreshing view of the world. Jukka Rusanen is an artist in whose cosmos of images two spheres are cleverly merged:
The subtle color and the confident line. The drawing and the painting. Here, the two do not stand side by side or even in competition, as with other artists, but the color and the gesture interact with each other, becoming one. The trace is articulated in the color, merges and yet remains clearly recognizable in its own right. Similar to the instrumentation of an orchestral piece, this painting has something grandiosely symphonic. At the same time, it comes across as full of lightness, completely unemotional, and that is exactly what makes Jukka Rusanen's art so appealing and likeable. Smetana improvisations, played on the Rococo spinet.

Whoever looks at these pictures is close to themselves, is completely at one with themselves. And yet we as viewers enjoy it when we are allowed to decipher something behind the shimmering traces of color that leads us back into the world and yet immediately takes us away again, knowing: This is pure painting that refers above all to one thing, namely to its own means, to itself. Art as if made by nature, and yet: art.— Prof. Dr. Martin Oswald, 2022

More works by Jukka Rusanen