Vesa Aaltonen

Elina Ruohonen

Elina Ruohonen has been a visual artist for 25 years. Her central theme in art is the state of our planet and its future, as well as the connection between the animal and human worlds.

Having worked tirelessly on her material, Ruohonen has now, by 2022, achieved 100 % recyclability in the ground material of her paintings.

Ruohonen creates her work on both sides of transparent acrylic sheets. In her double painting technique, the tangible and sensitive, three-dimensional surface combines with the artist’s distanced, out-of-reach touch. The manner of painting suggests the past and, simultaneously, the time still perceivable in the present moment. The floating concept of time in the works glides into the uncertainty of the future, to its losses, expectations and hopes – and, as always with Ruohonen, love. The fragile and vanishing nature where her living creatures roam is on the edge of doom in the paintings, but the main figures, animals or often sexless humans, have a sharp and focused gaze. Something is on its way, something that the creatures know and their bodies remember, but is as yet unclear inside the work.

The 2020s are transforming Ruohonen’s art. She calls energising orange and utopian turquoise her intermediary colours. What were earlier mixed human and animal creatures are now more clearly of the animal world: bears, horses and people wearing future helmets for awareness or safety. The surrounding space is either above or below reality. In the landscape, arresting and unexpected organic and inorganic objects fall on the ground, reflect off a rocky wall or rise from the rootstock.

The figures in the paintings head beyond the limited thinking of humans. Planetary consciousness gives birth to creatures of the future who act on a new kind of logic. To discover that, Ruohonen creates new paths in her art.

Location

Southwest Finland

Born

1970

Add to My Favorites

Featured artwork

UndercoverElina Ruohonen, Undercover, oil on plexiglass, 100 cm x 145 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Treasures and Pressures, exhibition in OuluElina Ruohonen, Treasures and Pressures, exhibition in Oulu, oil on plexiglass, 150 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2021. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

All you need is LoveElina Ruohonen, All you need is Love, oil on plexiglass, 140 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Joy, Complexity and Diversity, Hurry up!Elina Ruohonen, Joy, Complexity and Diversity, Hurry up!, oil on plexiglass, 150 cm x 140 cm x 0,3 cm ,2021. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

StudioElina Ruohonen, Studio, oil on plexiglass, 140 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

VoimavaraBoogieElina Ruohonen, VoimavaraBoogie, oil on plexiglass, 150 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2021. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Equal Partnerships -Neljäs neuvottelukierrosElina Ruohonen, Equal Partnerships -Neljäs neuvottelukierros, oil on plexiglass, 140 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Tomorrow`s Guide to the big StageElina Ruohonen, Tomorrow`s Guide to the big Stage, oil on plexiglass, 140 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Cabin Crew, prepare for landingElina Ruohonen, Cabin Crew, prepare for landing, oil on plexiglass, 100 cm x 100 cm x 0,3 cm ,2022. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

We are SailingElina Ruohonen, We are Sailing, oil on plexiglass, 140 cm x 150 cm x 0,3 cm ,2021. Photo: Elina Ruohonen.

Curriculum Vitae

Download CV (.pdf)