Rauha Mäkilä

I don't exactly know why I'm so into figurative painting. I guess in the human being and its being human inheres the point of origin of the system we relate all our perception to. It's the mirror that makes the world emerge from a nowhere through its reflection. Anyway, for as long as I can remember myself, the human figure has been the central moment in my own paintings. Even if I have to admit that there are just a very few of them.

But as the title of this post indicates, this is not about my own pitiful approach attempt at paiting. Already weeks ago I stumbled upon the paintings of Rauha Mäkilä, a Finnish painter born in 1980 in Helsinki, where she today lives and works.

What made me look was the very fluffily and kind of raw style of her paintings, the bright colors denying any spatiality. It makes her subjects appear as in the diffuse and overexposed photographs taken with mobile phones we know from our friends' Facebook profiles. In their degree of abstraction the depicted faces seem to generally reflect the life of Mäkilä's–and therewith also my own–generation's urban culture and life-style. So don't wonder if you recognize one of the guys behind the MacBook next to you in one of the paintings. I recommend having a look for yourself at Rauha Mäkilä's website for more paintings and further information.