Artist

I’ve never enjoyed writing artist statements nor profiles. Truthfully, I don’t even like talking about my work very much so it’s not exactly clear why I decided to include such a page. I suppose I think a consumer has some right to know about the product and its creation. This will probably sound more like some strange rant than an artist profile.

I paint images that I like. Some are from my head. Some are from photos. Some are a composite of both. They come from my life experiences, some of which are beautiful, some of which are painful, and many of which are simple and mundane. I share them and hope that occasionally people will like or relate to the pieces and maybe even buy them.

What am I trying to accomplish with art? I don’t know. Sometimes I am trying to express an idea, but if you don’t get it from the work, it probably wasn’t a great painting. Sometimes my expression of an idea is as immature as the poems I wrote as a teenager. Other times the expression is decent but the idea is immature. Sometimes both seem fabulous to me, but maybe after another decade or two, we’ll see that they’re naive too. You can decide for yourself.

Sometimes (usually), I’m not trying to say anything at all with my paintings. Like kicking a pebble on the road for no reason.

I’m not listing past exhibits. If you didn’t see them, you didn’t see them. Maybe I didn’t even have any. 🙂 You will have to decide on your own whether you like my work and think it is important. Please try to take it as a compliment that I respect your ability to decide what you like.

If you’re buying my work as an investment, good luck. I promise to work hard (at least until I have enough money to not work at all), and I promise to try to show integrity in my work. I make no guarantees regarding appreciation/depreciation.

The materials I use are not all environmentally friendly (many pigments are isolated from mined materials, many are toxic… cadmium, phthalocyanine, manganese, cobalt, never mind the dangers of solvents) but I try to be responsible in my use and disposal of materials. I use old meat trays as palettes in an effort to recycle but realize that might be offensive to the vegetarian. I wash them first, so I don’t think there’s a risk of salmonella but overall, it would be safest if you didn’t lick the paintings. Aside from that, I think that if you don’t burn them, they shouldn’t harm you physically. I use some fugitive pigments. And I like using found objects but am undecided as to whether the recycling aspect wins over the questionable surface structure. I’ll try to warn you if I think there might be any issue.

If you want to know more about me, my hobbies, interests and influences, or about my materials or techniques, you’re welcome to contact me. (If an email doesn’t go through, please check that you didn’t use the common misspelling of my name. It’s Anttila, not Antilla!)

I wanted this site so that I could show you my paintings. I hope you like them. If you don’t, I kind of hope you don’t feel compelled to tell me, and I trust you’ll find something that you like elsewhere. Thanks for your time.