Biography

Hilja Roivainen, born and raised in Finland, holds a Master of Arts in Fine Art (2011) from University of East London and a PhD in Art History from University of Turku (2023). Her recent group exhibitions feature, e.g. Manifesti at Manilla Culture Factory (Turku, 2025), Turku Artists’ Association’s Annual Exhibition at HAA Gallery (Helsinki, 2024), Jaatsi Culture House (Sastamala, 2016) and Turku Artists’ Society’s Summer Exhibition at Haihara Art Centre (juried show at Tampere, 2015), and solo in Jade Gallery (Helsinki, 2016). Hilja’s painting Tarvaspää II has been selected for a final at the following competitions: Saatchi Online: Places and Spaces Showdown (2012) and The Art of Basware (2014, Helsinki). Roivainen’s paintings are found in several private collections and in public collection at Helia-säätiö sr and Saatchi Winter Wonderland Online Collection.

Statement

My paintings investigate the attractiveness of a natural or built environment and its psychological impact on human beings. The visual image of the landscape has many dimensions in the painting: it becomes a meditative space filled with imagination and encounters of memories. The experience of a natural place is recreated from and coloured by memory, loosely basing on photographic documentation. The paintings are constructed by a layering of glazes and oil washes, applying fluid marks in contrast with gestural impasto, or through pouring paint. Folklore and myths about the natural world, for example present in the Finnish painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela’s work, interest me. As well, I look at for example Morandi’s early landscapes and Elizabeth Magill’s or Peter Doig’s paintings exploring notation of the idealised landscape. I would like my paintings to create something new in this space between memory and present – that is left up to the viewer to interpret in his/her own way.

“The paintings of Hilja Roivainen are interpretations of nature, filtered through memory and folklore. Past and present places are depicted with a haunting detachment, yet the handling of paint is lyrical and tender with moments of surprising sensuality. Often the light is that of winter or dusk. Sometimes the landscapes are unpeopled and lonely. In others there are figures working in, emerging from, or struggling through the gloam. With muted palette stretched to the limit, these paintings have an emotional impact that belie their initial quietness.”   —Lee Maelzer

Bio

Hilja Roivaisen puoliabstrakteissa öljyväritöissä tarkastellaan maisemaa kaupunkilaisen virkistyspaikkana. Roivainen tutkii kuinka luonnollinen tai rakennettu ympäristö houkuttelevat katsojaa ja vaikuttavat psyykkisesti ihmiseen. Maalausten lähtökohtina ovat valokuvattu havainto ja muistikuva maisemasta, mutta joskus myös internetistä löydetyt valokuvat. Maalaukset ovat moniulotteisia sekä meditatiivisia tiloja, joissa mielikuvitus ja luontonäkymän herättämät ajatukset kohtaavat. Monesti niiden tunnelma rakentuu kerroksittain maalatuista värisävyistä. Turussa toimiva Roivainen on valmistunut kuvataiteen maisteriksi Itä-Lontoon yliopiston taidekoulusta ja filosofian tohtoriksi Turun yliopistosta.

Information om konstnären

Målningarna av Hilja Roivainen undersöker attraktionskraften hos en naturlig eller byggd miljö och dess psykologiska inverkan på människor. Den visuella bilden av landskapet har många dimensioner i målningen: det blir ett meditativt utrymme fyllt av fantasi och möten av minnen. Upplevelsen av en naturlig plats återskapas från och färgas av minnet, löst baserat på fotografisk dokumentation. Målningarna är konstruerade genom en skiktning av glasyrer och oljetvättar, applicering av flytande märken i kontrast till gestural impasto, eller genom att hälla färg. Roivainen har en magisterexamen i konst från University of East London och en doktorsexamen i konsthistoria från Åbo universitet.