Kirves - Axe

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 373.

Sekopää - Psycho

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 372.

Symboli - Symbol

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 371.

Kirchner

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 370.

Häränsilmä - Bull's Eye

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 369.

Rikollinen - Criminal

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 368.

Uneksija - Dreamer

Wax crayon / wax on paper. Rinta-Perälä, 2021.
Drawing 367.

Roast of Mainstream Obsessions

It's very fitting that in this 'who can shout the loudest' culture, the most fundamental words have apparently lost their meaning.

That's funny, I usually run out of meaningful words when I'm describing this insincere mainstream cesspool. Is there any way you could reach a bit deeper? No? It seems like the mainstream is always more interested in reaching new lows. The bar can't be low enough and raising the bar is an alien concept.

In this mindless numerocracy the benchmark is supposedly the latest and most popular thing. Just numb yourself with mass-market tedium. In my country that means reading bland novels, consuming lifeless standup comedy, listening to Nightwish and eating pineapple pizza.

In the middle of all this obsessive lunacy, the mainstream always keeps forgetting how boring it is. And at the same time, the mainstream loves to fearmonger in order to feed itself. I'm afraid we're going to be bored to death sooner than you think.

The ungenerous mainstream expresses interest in novelty as long as it's catering to a lobotomised target audience and following a checklist that has nothing to do with imagination.

Here's what's missing from your dime a dozen checklist: you forgot to communicate with yourself, you forgot to learn from mistakes, you forgot to fight all this bullshit. Needless to say, the mainstream is never going to do these things. That would be far too intelligent in the long run.

I suppose it's possible that you've actually learned something about the dangers of living your mainstream dream, but I know you haven't. Unfortunately it's the dream of having your ears stitched shut.

Art questions July 2021

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: I love reading classic short stories from Anton Chekhov, Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe, Honore de Balzac, Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Italo Calvino, Franz Kafka and E. T. A. Hoffmann. Usually I'm reading about different art forms, but any topic can be inviting because my reading is based on curiosity. I wouldn't get anything done if I had to explain every step.

Listening to audio books is not the same as reading. The only audio books I have are poetry and The Book of Revelation. Some T. S. Eliot and Robert Graves read by the poets themselves. I started reading more poetry after studying English and Finnish literature.

My favourite Finnish poets are Aleksis Kivi and Uuno Kailas. Finnish folk poetry is also incredible. It was passed down in the form of songs and collected in the 19th century. They had poems about everything. Some of them were censored and published much later.