Niña Verde – portrait of Santa Muerte

The story of my latest painting started out with a book: Santa Muerte – the History, Rituals and Magic of Our Lady of the Holy Death by Tracey Rollin.  As mentioned on my previous post, I collect lithographs of Catholic saints and I was curious about this “Skinny Lady”: a relative newcomer among the heavenly host.  Not actually venerated nor even approved by the Catholic authorities, Santa Muerte is a female folk saint from Mexico.  She is the personification of death and the protector of those living in the fringes of society.  The followers of her cult believe by embracing death they will better appreciate life.

Santa Muerte – work in progress

Santa Muerte – work in progress

Santa Muerte is depicted as a skeleton not afraid to flaunt her femininity.  She can wear plain black robes in full grim-reaper style, but more often than not, she is presented in elaborate dresses, long wigs and ornate headpieces.  The different parts of Santa Muerte’s persona are divided by colour and her outfits tend to reflect a particular aspect the owner of her figurine wishes to gain favour from, i.e. red for sex and passion, gold for wealth and so on.  For aesthetic reasons alone, I chose to paint the emerald glad Niña Verde.  According to Tracey Rollin (Santa Muerte, 2017), Niña Verde is the green aspect of Santa Muerte and her most popular function is to deflect and otherwise solve legal problems.  Less concerned about escaping justice than making art, I wanted to play with the dress-up element of this particular folk-saint and chose to depict her in the nicest garment I personally own: my wedding dress.

It has been quite some time since I started and finished a figurative piece without a reference point of a physical object and painting “Niña Verde” from my imagination alone was like using muscles I did not remember I had.  Quite frankly, like the day after taking on running, I cannot quite tell whether I will have the perseverance to keep at it.  For better or for worse, working without a real model for this piece turned out to be helpful.  To return to the sports metaphors, if I may, painting from imagination is like riding a bike; you never really forget how it is done.

Santa Muerte by Tiina Lilja – work in progress

Santa Muerte by Tiina Lilja – work in progress

Santa Muerte by Tiina Lilja – work in progress

Surprisingly, it was the background in this portrait that gave me most trouble.  First altered from dark slate-ish grey to salmon pink, I finally settled with a teal-to-navy gradient that I was happy with.  It is not unusual for me to adjust these types of details when putting a painting together, but changing a background tree times in one small piece has to be a new record.

I personally see parallels between this piece and my past Barbie-works.  A female saint of death is just as good of an excuse to paint an over-the-top feminine portrait as a Barbie-doll would be.  Besides, I have plans to give objects a break and return to more traditional portraiture.  In able to do that, I needed to practise my costume painting skills.  The reason I originally started shifting towards object painting was my interest in replicating different materials and textures; painting glass, silicone and aluminium being my favourites.  These new pictures I am currently sketching out on canvas will feature a plethora of different types of textiles and hopefully, some fur too.

But that is a subject of another blog.

Until next time,

Tiina x

Silence is Golden

Bonne année à tous!

This piece I am about to introduce was finished in late-2018 and it is the latest artwork in my La Toussaints-series.  Named “Silence is Golden” as a nod towards the images origin, this mixed media piece is an adaptation of a lithograph bought from my local brocante– where these types of pictures come a dime a dozen.

Lithograph of “The Silence” by Nicolas de Poilly

Silence is golden by Tiina Lilja 2018, mixed media on paper, detail of the work in progress

My lithograph was a copy of an engraving “The Silence” (ca. 1675-1693) by Nicolas de Poilly, who in turn was paraphrasing “The Sleep of the Child” by Charles Le Brun.  It is a cosy domestic scene featuring the holy family: Joseph, Mary and a plump baby Jesus, with John the Baptist.  Mary, who is seated at the centre of the composition, is holding her sleeping child while gently scolding the young John the Baptist for attempting to wake the Christ up from his slumber.  The inscription at the bottom of the print reads “Sileat omnis terra a facie eius”, (loosely following Habakkuk 2:20) and can be translated as “Be silent, O all the earth tremble before him.” (Image and Incarnation: The Early Modern Doctrine of the Pictorial Image, edited by Walter Melion & Lee Palmer Wandel, 2015)  My copy of the print likely dates to the turn of the 20^th century if not a little earlier.  Despite of past restoration attempts in or around the 1930’s, it was in poor condition: damaged by the sun and insufficient framing.

My fascination of Catholic art goes hand in hand with my art education.  Like any keen student of art history, I quickly became familiar with the lore and symbolism of different saints, due to the nature of historic art that survives in Europe.  I was brought up in the fold of the Church of Finland, as an evangelic Lutheran, but I have no personal faith.  As a young atheist and a budding painter, I could not relate to religious art, but I admired the grandiosity of it.  I can appreciate the likes of Morgan Beatus (a stupendously illuminated manuscript of the Book of Revelations, circa 940-45), in awe of human imagination stemming from Christian piety and not feel the slightest sense of guilt or doubt about my own religious identity.  In that light, collecting fiercely Catholic lithographs and incorporating them in my own visual art feels only natural.

Silence is golden by Tiina Lilja 2018, mixed media on paper, detail of the work in progress

Silence is golden by Tiina Lilja 2018, mixed media on paper, detail of the work in progress

Silence is golden by Tiina Lilja 2018, mixed media on paper, detail of the work in progress

My style of creating new art out of the old is all about layering; adding elements with a distinctly different hand from the original artist and creating interest through contrast.  I am a lover of the decorative arts and these mixed media pieces allow me to explore the more maximalist side of my practise.  In “Silence is Golden” I chose to simplify the design of the original composition by removing the background altogether and replacing it with a straightforward pattern mirroring the colours of the print.  A separate geometric element inlayed with a selection of coloured washes in oil paint serves a decorative purpose as well as a vehicle to highlight the relationships between the prints subjects, beginning from the line of sight of the Virgin Mary.  Where my painted additions are substantial to the way this print will be viewed in the future, I don’t see myself as the sole author of this piece, rather than a curator of it.

Silence is golden by Tiina Lilja 2018, mixed media on paper, detail of the work in progress

Changing fashions have left these previously beloved images of devotion crumbling in their mouldy frames, sold for the price of live-love-laugh stickers.  Worn by the passage of time, unloved or simply forgotten, they remind me of my grandmother with her framed embroidery of a guardian angel, perhaps this is why I find them so irresistible.  By adding my own mark into a copy of a print or a painting I stand alongside the artists that created these images, on a direct line from the likes of de Poilly and Le Brun.  It is a very comforting thought.

All the while I am actually recycling art.

For that, I feel downright saintly.

Tiina x

Double Exposure – transfers and embroidery

Double Exposure is research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Start from the beginning  here.

---

So far my research into the imagery of “Souvenirs” has taken me two ways.  I began this project by applying simple embroidery straight onto the severed pages of the book, over and around the models in these images, obscuring some parts of the photographs and highlighting others.  Having worked in this repetitive manner, getting to know my subject matter, I was ready to start manipulating the imagery in other ways.  To allow more complicated embroidery, I needed to transfer my chosen images, by now cropped and circular for visual uniformity, onto fabric.  This was a fairly straight forward process aided by iron-on transfers.  I sew, hardly for work, but to a decent standard.  A good knowledge in manipulating different textiles certainly helped when planning this move.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

I am a painter first, and an artist second.  This did not cement as my only professional identity until my time in the Edinburgh College of Art, however.  I do not feel I was outright discouraged from exploring other methods of expression, but presenting a coherent body of work was a key part of our academic criteria and something you were encouraged to work towards.  It took time and more confidence than I would have ever expected to allow myself to lower my brushes for this one.  Hence why “Double Exposure” is such a personal project for me.  The re-introduction of textile based art for the first time since my teenage years has been an exciting re-discovery.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

I have already touched on how embroidery continues to be viewed as a feminine medium.  Textile art altogether has often been dismissed as a hobbyist’s technique, more at home in the WI Fayre than a reputable Art Gallery.  I have only two words for those of such narrow minds: Louise Bourgeois.  Especially due to the weight of its historic reputation, embroidery and textiles can be weaponised to the artists’ means.  I needed to counteract the upsetting subject matter of Double Exposure with something calming and sensory.  To fight crude with quaint, if you will.  Thread and a needle are the perfect tool for this job.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

I find the soothing tactile-ness of this work almost therapeutic.  I feel every piece is taking shape almost on muscle memory alone, stitch after stitch.  Building this body of work feels both important and inspiring – this is a good place to be, mentally as well as professionally.

Happy holidays – see you all after Christmas.

Tiina x

Double Exposure

Almost two years ago now I was given a book of photography from the 70’s called Souvenirs.

My dad of all people had found it in the loft where he grew up, clearing away his dead mothers things alongside his siblings.  The mood was sombre and not very much was kept, but he did save this book for me.  Not as a reminder of my beloved mummu, but as something a visual artist could surely use.  “It is one of those artist things, you know… ehem… artistic stuff.” he said.  I thanked him and took this book, curious of its contents.  Upon first inspection it seemed to have a few female nudes, some overly sentimental images of the countryside, birds flying high in the sky and sandy beaches somewhere warm… the usual stuff.

I must confess, dear reader, that I was underwhelmed.

On the closer look, the book stood out from your standard kitsch and sentimental garbage.  The women in these images seemed unfeasibly young; lean and barely pubescent, depicted in various sexually suggestive poses and scenarios.  Some compositions were mimicking classical art (the reason my dad thought the book might be useful for a painter) where as others had a snap shot like feel to them, appearing sinister and almost voyeuristic.

 

cof

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

I was not aware of it at the time but the esteemed photographer whose work I was studying with growing distain had just taken his own life following accusations of sexual abuse and rape from women he photographed, some as young as 13 when the abuse was alleged to have happened.  What I saw was enough for me to bury this book at the bottom of my wardrobe in disgust.  It took me some time to put a name in the face, but once I was aware who had taken these seedy snaps, I was further convinced this was not something I would like to look up to for inspiration regarding aesthetics, photography or anything.

The name of this photographic artist is of no importance, although I am sure many of you know who I am talking about.  We spend way too much time focussed on (alleged) perpetrators in our society and not nearly enough time emphasising with the victims.  Following the #metoo campaign and other high profile sexual misconduct cases recently, an idea was brewing.  I was just getting back to work after a long medical leave following a stint of working with other projects and  I needed something to sink my teeth into.

 

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

And this is how I found myself reaching for the book that had been sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe for nearly two years.

To put it simply, I felt like engaging, politically.  To hang my colours to the mast, if you will.  My usual studio work is not overtly politically motivated – I see myself as a collector or a curator of visual information more than anything else, but Souvenirs and the way this book made me feel, had just made tipped me in the realm of feminist art.

 

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

Double Exposure by Tiina Lilja research project looking into the depiction of vulnerable women and girls in visual art.

I chose the medium of embroidery as it seemed suitably quaint and harmless – like some of the imagery found in the book; a bevy of swans or a sleepy village.  Not a context one would expect to find a vagina of a child.  Referring to a wider use of female nudity in visual art, historically a woman’s body on canvas is an invitation to look and a testament of the painters skill; an object.  It remains so in my work – I paint portrait of objects and this includes a large collection of auto portraits and portraits of other women, subjected to the same clinical gaze as a vase of flowers might.  Double Exposure is different.  I want it to invite you in and encourage you, dear reader, to question the motives of the artist, my motives, in creating this work.

My journey crafting this body of work is only beginning, but I know I must take care with it.  I need to get this one right.

The time is up.