Marja Karisalmi is a painter from Helsinki, working mainly with watersoluble paints on canvas. Wooden or painted frames are often seen as a core structure of her work. Karisalmi is interested in the possibilities and tensions that arise between the internal symbolism of the painting and the frame that explores space. She plays with different scales, seeking variation in spatiality through box-like frames carved in different sizes.

Karisalmi's work is strongly linked to the subconscious. For her, painting is a way to observe the world and the connections between parallel realities. Alongside painting, Karisalmi writes her thoughts in a referential form, which attaches the work into a broader context. She approaches themes that are related to the fleeting experiences of time, often focusing on the subject through dreams. For her dreams offer a hazy window into the diverse and complex human experience — a space never homogeneous enough to describe just by the means of narratives. Painting is therefore a gesture to find understanding, a gentle view into the intimate experience of otherness.

Karisalmi has studied painting at the Free Art School and has actively held solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions since 2019. Karisalmi has undergone extensive art therapy herself, which has thoroughly impacted on the development of her practice and artistic language.

Artist CV