Heart 1
Heart 2
Heart 3
Heart 4
Man and skull (red)
Horse
Drawing
Man and skull
Man and bearskin
Drawing
Man and dog
C V
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In referring to Marjatta Tapiola’s art it has become customary to speak of expressiveness, as implying something markedly suggestive and strongly expressing a subjective emotion. Looking at her paintings, I partly recognize this trait – but only in part. "I couldn’t be bothered painting anything that doesn’t interest me at the emotional level," says the artist herself, going on to note: "There is, however, no difference at the level of emotion and the visual plane". Tapiola works in an organized manner; she is familiar with the techniques, and knows how oils, tempera and tusche function in different layers, thick and thin, to cover or to give a glaze – how it all works when she begins to make the particular kind of picture that she wants to at a particular time. And she goes on to paint precisely that kind of image. Almost every brushstroke reveals the tension created by the movement between the conscious and subconscious that marks the draughtsman, the draughtsman per la grazia di Dio (with a double meaning for grazia): command and sensitivity that cannot be separated and would be useless to try to do so. Just like emotional expression and the problems of the visual plane.
Otso Kantokorpi
Translated excerpt from the article "Maalaus sulon ja armon ideogrammina" (Painting as ideograms of charm and grace), exhibition catalogue, Galerie Anhava, 2003
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