Q: What is in your sketchbooks?
A: Words, phrases and small, rough sketches. My drawings are A3 size and most of my notebooks are A6.
Q: What other skill would you like to have?
A: As an expressionist I wish I had a rubber face. Now it's more like Buster Keaton. And in Finland you can't tell if someone's face is frozen. It doesn't stand out.
Q: When does someone become an artist?
A: When your art makes people stop in a world of flashing images. When your art won't disappear.
The term artist is being used frivolously. People say, "I learned to draw in a week and now I'm an artist." Then they smell their own armpit and say, "Yeah, that's artist perspiration, right there."
Drawing is in my DNA, but I was 28 when I developed my drawing technique. Before that I was just good at drawing. I made music for about 15 years and had no problem taking it seriously. Drawing was right under my nose but first I had to take art seriously.
Going through the whole timeline is easy. Explaining it is impossible.
There's so much you can't explain. Atmosphere and the feelings I get are always at the top. In my case, information and facts in art are of lower importance.
I don't trust people who love analysis more than anything else.
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Art questions January 2021
Sunday, December 27, 2020
Tedium Vobiscum - Black Metal Prostitution
"Fuck the scene."
Fenriz, Total Death commentary
Nine trillion bands is a problem. Nine trillion black metal bands is the opposite of black metal.
I have been listening to black metal since childhood. I would like to keep listening to it and discover new artists. They don't make it easy. Most of the time all I discover is flatlining creative betrayal.
My favourite artists made the music they couldn't find. Picking things out of a catalogue is a terrible approach. Without innovation, independence and bold ideas we wouldn't have black metal in the first place.
The members of Dimmu Borgir keep mentioning bands like Thorns, Darkthrone and Burzum in their interviews. Dimmu Borgir has never produced anything that feels like early Norwegian black metal. You can't just write something that sounds like it. Dimmu Borgir is romanticism.
Being the biggest fan of something doesn't make you an artist. Fanaticism is never the answer. Fanaticism gives you the same old crap over and over again. Community for community's sake is not the answer either. It will only enforce personality-driven, transactional bullshit.
What is the answer? The answer is a smaller number of unique bands and artists. That's what I'm always looking for, in black metal or anything else.
Tuesday, December 8, 2020
Sibelius Day - Day of Finnish music
1969 Pokelat - Keskiyön auringon lauluja (Songs of the Midnight Sun)
1974 Pekka Pohjola - Harakka Bialoipokku
1975 Piirpauke - Piirpauke
1990 Mana Mana - Totuus palaa
1990 Martti Pokela, Eeva-Leena Sariola, Matti Kontio - Kantele
1994 CMX - Aura
1994 YUP - Homo Sapiens
1997 Jean Sibelius - The Best of Sibelius (Naxos)
1999 Terveet Kädet - Ääretön propaganda (1982-1984)
2001 Jean Sibelius - Kullervo (Lahti Symphony Orchestra)
Sunday, December 6, 2020
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Tomb Shall Hunt - new track from 13th album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwJYy6Xo3z8
Avant-garde Black Classical
New track from Seita, my 13th album.
The third of 3 upcoming albums that form the White Trilogy.
Out January 1, 2021.
BLACK TRILOGY:
Vengeful Semblance (2019)
Instruments of Unveiling (2020)
Muses with Tin Tongues (2020)
https://vengefulsemblance.bandcamp.com/
Monday, November 30, 2020
Art questions December 2020
Q: How do you define success?
A: I want to give you experiences. That's thing number one. Strong images and powerful music.
If the first thing out of your mouth is numbers and money, you have a serious problem. And we have a serious problem because of these people.
These cowards don't take any risks. "In order to succeed, do something someone else is doing". Then they wonder why we have this ass-backward atmosphere.
You just kept accepting these things.
Q: Did you have any favourite artists growing up?
A: Hugo Simberg (1873–1917). He mainly painted symbolic visions and scenes with sympathetic devils and skeletons representing death.
Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914). His art was quite similar but more focused on folklore and landscapes.
Gustave Doré (1832–1883). Illustrations for The Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Friday, November 20, 2020
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
My top 50 Black-and-white films - 1924-1994
TINTED FILMS NOT INCLUDED.
1924 Sherlock Jr.
1925 The Gold Rush
1926 Faust
1926 A Page of Madness
1927 Metropolis
1928 The Man Who Laughs
1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc
1930 The Blood of a Poet
1931 M – A City Searches for a Murderer
1932 Vampyr
1932 Freaks
1932 The Old Dark House
1932 Island of Lost Souls
1933 The Testament of Dr. Mabuse
1933 Duck Soup
1943 Seventh Victim
1943 Day of Wrath
1946 The Spiral Staircase
1950 Sunset Boulevard
1950 Rashomon
1951 Strangers on a Train
1952 The White Reindeer
1953 Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
1954 La Strada
1955 Ordet
1955 Les Diaboliques
1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1960 The Virgin Spring
1960 Eyes Without a Face
1960 Black Sunday
1960 Psycho
1961 The Innocents
1962 Carnival of Souls
1962 Cape Fear
1962 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
1962 Lolita
1963 The Haunting
1963 The Girl Who Knew Too Much
1963 8½
1963 Il Demonio
1964 Dr. Strangelove
1964 The Last Man on Earth
1964 Onibaba
1965 Repulsion
1968 Kuroneko
1968 Night of the Living Dead
1977 Eraserhead
1980 The Elephant Man
1989 Tetsuo
1994 Ed Wood
Favourite films top 50
http://saapasnahkatorni.blogspot.fi/2016/06/favourite-films-top-50.html
Monday, November 16, 2020
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Friday, November 13, 2020
Roast of Professional Complainers
Does the union of freedom and full potential fill you with excitement? If it doesn't, then you just might be a professional complainer.
Professional complainers are mind-bendingly self-centered and they frequently evacuate verbal diarrhea. Speech worship knows no bounds. Speech is the new salvation!
Projection is the new positive! As a self-centered stooge you have to protect yourself. Just fill your day with meaningless attacks. Wow, you really put the mean in meaningless.
Objection is the new original! We are building a world where full potential gets steamrolled by cynicism. A world where real creativity is for crackpots.
Insipid is the new inspirational! Yes, "anything is possible", but apparently you're not ready for it. You would rather eat ice cream and fart on a pillow that says "Anyone Can Do Anything."
Lament is the new legit! We are building a world where fascists are complaining about dictators. A world where people with ingrown toenails sit at home, form their own online group and send death threats to podiatrists.
Anxiety in, anxiety out. Anxiety is the new amniotic fluid!
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Saturday, November 7, 2020
Art questions November 2020
Q: Has 2020 affected your creativity?
A: Positively. 2019 and 2020 have been incredibly productive.
I recorded 60 album tracks for 8 different albums. Some of them were loosely based on old demos and notes. All that while studying, finishing a film, working on an animation and creating drawings.
I studied at home in April, May and October. Now I'm back in school.
I will finish my 14th album in 2021. Yeah, just another "lazy millennial".
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Bible Cracked Open by Fire - new track from my 13th album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyrHxywc4K4
Avant-garde Black Classical
New track from Seita, my 13th album.
The third of 3 upcoming albums that form the White Trilogy.
Out January 1, 2021.
BLACK TRILOGY:
Vengeful Semblance (2019)
Instruments of Unveiling (2020)
Muses with Tin Tongues (2020)
https://vengefulsemblance.bandcamp.com/
Friday, October 30, 2020
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - 100th Anniversary
I'm urging you to experience this daring film. Not just clips or famous images. You have to see it and feel it.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari
1920, Robert Wiene
From Caligari to Hitler: German Cinema in the Age of the Masses
2014, Rüdiger Suchsland
Monday, October 26, 2020
Saturday, October 24, 2020
My future plans
I'm going to fry PewDiePie's testicles in oil, and call them Scandi Mountain oysters.
Teach American geography on a watermelon.
Solve the slippery mystery of glass dildos.
Attend fisherman's friend's funeral.
Visit Spunky Puddle, Ohio. Now apparently a ghost town. How is that possible?
Get Conan O'Brien hairdo and wear diapers.
Friday, October 23, 2020
What does raising the bar mean to you?
Risk-taking, in the true sense, means that you don't know. You don't know exactly what's going to happen.
What does this mean when you're creating? You're trying things that are unconventional. You're developing something that was missing. You don't already know that there's an audience.
Creativity and self-censorship don't go well together.
I was the kid who wanted to take risks. I wanted to look at the world with fresh eyes without being infantile.
I was the kid who was sensitive to atmosphere. The atmosphere surrounding everyone and everything. We shouldn't forget the atmosphere we are creating down here.
No one taught me this. And you can't take it for granted. The second you take these things for granted they cease to exist.
Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Saturday, October 17, 2020
Friday, October 2, 2020
Art questions October 2020
Q: How would you describe your music?
A: I want to make memorable art music. Haunting, dreamlike, powerful, touching.
Usually I do it with simple harmonies. Sometimes they are dissonant. Dissonance is not just one thing. You can play chords and harmonies with dissonance that is not obvious. You need other musical skills too. Otherwise it will turn into a cheap trick.
Q: What active bands are you listening to these days?
A: Triptykon, Drudkh.
Veterans from Norway: Thorns, Virus, Ulver, Arcturus, Manii and Helheim. Helheim's Rignir was one of the best recent albums. I've been waiting for the second Thorns album for years.
9 trillion bands is a massive problem and a lot of it's crap.
Dear new bands, make new music.
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Lightning Children - new track from 12th album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqHNj2hI6XU
Avant-garde Black Classical
New track from Writhing Horizon, my 12th album.
The second of 3 upcoming albums that form the White Trilogy.
Out January 1, 2021.
BLACK TRILOGY:
Vengeful Semblance (2019)
Instruments of Unveiling (2020)
Muses with Tin Tongues (2020)
https://vengefulsemblance.bandcamp.com/
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Shadows Over Sereningia - January 27, 2021
The music composed for the short film will also be on my 14th album.
Release date - January 27, 2021.
Friday, September 11, 2020
No more 50 drawings per year after 2020
After discovering my technique in 2014, I decided to create 50 wax drawings every year. At the end of 2020 I will have 350 drawings and after that I will be making less.
Currently I'm working on my first wax drawing animation and my 14th album.
Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Cradlesong of Desolation - new track from 12th album
Avant-garde Black Classical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUIU9u-EHcg
New track from Writhing Horizon, my 12th album.
The second of 3 upcoming albums that form the White Trilogy.
Out January 1, 2021.
BLACK TRILOGY:
Vengeful Semblance (2019)
Instruments of Unveiling (2020)
Muses with Tin Tongues (2020)
https://vengefulsemblance.bandcamp.com/
Monday, August 31, 2020
Art questions September 2020
Q: What sort of things did you draw when you were a child?
A: Horror movie stuff. Almost exclusively. Tales from the Crypt, Evil Dead and tons of zombie movies. I was literally going under the skin. These days I'm doing it differently.
I saw Seven when I was 10 and I drew the first victim. Face in the plate, feet tied with wire and cockroaches on the floor. These were strong images.
Q: How do you explain your productivity? In 8 years you have made 13 albums, 1 film and more than 300 individual drawings.
A: I don't have unfinished works lying around. Ideas usually come to me in a flash and I do things in bursts. Focus on it and finish it.
Doing and being is absolutely essential. The lazier you are the more crap you deserve. If you're doing nothing to support creativity, you deserve the crappiest art.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
Sunday, August 16, 2020
Friday, August 14, 2020
The Pains Of Being Pure At Beaver
Un-Break My Beaver
Beaver Of The Congos
Atom Beaver Mother
Sheer Beaver Attack
Someone Else's Beaver
Vagabond Beaver
Beaver-Shaped Box
Beaver Of Glass
Crosseyed Beaver
Beaver Of Darkness
Beaver Like A Wheel
Fire In My Beaver
Beaver To Beaver
Groove Is In The Beaver
The Pains Of Being Pure At Beaver
Clean Up Your Beaver
Rock And Roll Beaver
My Spanish Beaver
Ruler Of My Beaver
You're My Beaver, You're My Soul
Unchain My Beaver
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Friday, August 7, 2020
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
Landscapes Downstairs
So many people talk about the way pubic hair looks. It makes me wonder... do these people have sex? What's the biggest reason to have sex? The way it feels. This shouldn't be news to anyone. Just ask Porky Pig.
We're talking about highly sensitive areas. I've done a lot of research. And I've found out that your hair can't actually feel anything.
Well, sometimes when you have a hangover, it kind of seems like it can. You accidentally touch your hair and it makes you throw up five times. Research!
All this talk about pubic "fashion". She's got a triangle. She's got a strip. Who gives a fuck?!
Seriously though, who... uh...
Monday, August 3, 2020
Art questions August 2020
A: I don't have a specific audience in mind.
I want to give you experiences. Absence of strong art leads to more inexperienced populations.
I'm not one of those people who only know a small number of famous works.
Q: What do you think about visual artists who have started using speech more?
A: People will remember strong images and the way they feel. Understanding your medium means that you believe in the possibilities within that medium.
There are artists who think they're breaking rules, but they're just trying to destroy their own medium. As a visual artist, speaking will never be my main job.
The age of speech is the age of bullshit. When people are addicted to speech, anyone can say anything. People learn what to say in order to hide reality.
Speech worship is like spreading superficial noise. Today, it feels like you have to be grotesquely superficial for it to register.
Visual artists need visual skills. When you're a composer you're making music. You're not writing pamphlets.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Desirous Roots of Heartwood - new track from 11th album
Pipe organ classical
New track from Nyctophony, my 11th album.
The first of 3 upcoming albums that form the White Trilogy.
Out January 1, 2021.
BLACK TRILOGY:
Vengeful Semblance (2019)
Instruments of Unveiling (2020)
Muses with Tin Tongues (2020)
https://vengefulsemblance.bandcamp.com/
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Workshop drawings from 2018
Rinta-Perälä, 2018
Original drawing: Praying Hands by Albrecht Dürer
Rinta-Perälä, 2018
Original painting: The Bull by Franz Marc
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Art questions July 2020
Q: Are you still working on your first wax drawing animation?
A: Yes. I had written a story but then I decided to make one drawing instead of an animation. I've started writing another story and there's already a design for the poster.
This is my seventh year of making wax drawings and right now there's 328. I clearly remember the time when I only had 10. I had just developed a new way of drawing.
50 per year seems like a good number. Drawing has to feel exciting. I will try to make at least 400.
Q: What is your favourite Youtube channel?
A: Chunk the Groundhog. He's name is Chunk. And he's a groundhog. He's so inspiring. The channel allows him to have so much variety in his daily life. Otherwise it would be kind of like living the same day over and over again. Nobody wants that.