Eemil Karila

In artist Eemil Karila’s paintings farmland is taken over by wild meadows, open bogs and sprawling weeds. Humans however are glaringly absent. The powerful and colourful paintings are a reminder of the significance of nature in a small scale. Karila’s works stop you in your tracks and encourage abandoning our human-centric worldview. The exhibition includes some of Karila’s newest works from the recent years.

Natural forces rule in Eemil Karila’s paintings. His works are born of experiences in nature and their memories. They move between expressive landscapes and abstracts. The paintings do not depict recognizable places or take place at specific times, instead they are searching for the essence of life and the never-ending changes in nature. “The state of nature and concern for it have become a more and more prevalent part of my artistic work. It was one of the reason why I returned from Berlin back to Lapland, where my relationship with my environment plays a larger part in my everyday life and identity.”

The artist ponders how art could create hope as the ecological crisis advances and in times of despair. “We know that in the future, young people and children will have to make decisions that we were incapable of making.” Art can charm you, much like a being in nature can be moving. Experiencing art can even be a mystical and almost religious encounter. According to Karila, the purpose of art is to create a space which enables questioning.

Eemil Karila paints directly onto thick raw linen and lets the amply used water to soak the pigments into the fibres of the canvas. As the linen gets wet, it darkens like soil, and during the process traces and colours are left behind on the surface. The artist paints with brushes and fingers. “The process is similar to gardening”, he states.

Eemil Karila (b. 1978) lives and works in Rovaniemi. He completed his candidate’s degree in painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2002, and his master’s degree at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2008. Karila lived in Berlin for over 13 years, returning to Finland to live in Rovaniemi. Karila has held over 30 solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad and taken part in dozens of group exhibitions around the world, for example in Europe and South America. His works are included in many collections in Finland and Germany.