Kaisu Koivisto

Visual artist, b.1962. Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland

http://www.kaisukoivisto.com

e-mail: kaisukk[at]yahoo.com

Steel, horns, bones, photos and drawings

”I am interested in an ambivalent aesthetic, the simultaneity of attractiveness and repulsiveness, the synthetic and the organic, stark geometry and the ornamental. At the heart of my practice lies an exploration of oppositional relationships, combining the spatial relationships generated by installations and objects with photography, drawings and video.
My installations and objects are physical and highly corporeal. I utilize those objects and the images which we come upon in daily life. Salvaged or discarded organic materials such as leather, animal bones and horns bear the marks of wear and tear on: scratches, cracks and stains. The processes of growth and decay are thus visible. In my artistic practise I explore the materials of my installations and objects also though employing them as subjects for photography and video.
The relationship between human beings and nature in all its forms, above all cultivated and restrained nature we encounter in cities, is often a starting point for me. For example the Leatherman-series (2009) incorporates both human and animal elements. The small, androgynous human-like figures stare the spectator with their glass eyes. I have been inspired by “heroes” of popular culture such as Batman as well as by snapshot photography and depictions of people one encounters in old paintings.“

Kaisu Koivisto