Two Cranes on a Snow Covered Pine Tree
after Hokusai

Few people enter your life offering true friendship. They support you, not just with words, but truly encourage you to do what you ought to do. Only better thing than that is when one friend becomes two, a couple. This painting is dedicated to such friends. With their life I could reflect my own/our, I can see ups and downs of one’s life, and I could confirm that “good things come to those who wait”. This painting is a wedding gift and also a reflection on 17 years of friendship.

There is a tragic background story to selection of this particular view that I am not willing to share publicly. But intentions, emotions and wishes that I transferred to this painting are cheerful and happy and in memory of other great person that I didn´t get a chance to meet and I wish I had. So story on this painting is a bit of joku on couple’s stereotype. Crane couples are getting ready to leave before snow fall down. He is ready and she is still dressing. As simple as that. Now you might think this is not good, but it is hard to achieve simple stereotypes in real life, and it is good to have somebody to wait for. Especially when it is someone you love. So whenever you get upset when you are waiting for him or her to get ready, to get dressed, remember how lucky you are to have that someone.

Dedicated to IT and HH and little EH.

Technique: acrylic on canvas

Size: 90 x 40 cm

Year: January 2021

Availability: In Private Collection


100 Views of Ukiyo-e: Volume II (2019- )

The first Volume in this series I did as a part of my Magister´s thesis. I started painting in autumn 2009 and finished 25 canvases in the autumn of 2011.  Since then, I have presented the paintings from this series in Europe, US and Japan. But I didn´t continue working on new canvases. I needed some time to distance myself from academia and academic way of thinking. For example, every detail needed to have a reason, to be explained and you end up overthinking things. Freedom and flexibility become lost to a certain degree and the way of thinking and developing of the artwork becomes rigid and empirical. I am not saying that this is bad and I am still methodical in building my artwork, but this leaves a small chance for errors and errors are the ones that bring life to the artwork. Without errors, without a chance of something unexpected, the artwork becomes dull. So I started working on my Great Wave series, which helped me to move away from academia, and also to learn some new “street wise” things. So now, in 2019, I am able to move forward with my 100 Views of Ukiyo-e series. There are no specific techniques, or formats, or themes, or genres, or artists that are predetermined for the second series. I will build it as it comes.

So this is my updated statement – “100 Views of Ukiyo-e is my life mission to re-create new originals of selected 100 Ukiyo-e prints (as) new original paintings in new oban size. It is divided in 4 Volumes of 25 canvases, some of the forming diptychs or triptychs.“