Press release from the exhibition;
Galleria Huuto Viiskulma, Helsinki

Mari Leskinen
29.3. - 9.4.2006

The Gale and the Bloom

The Gale and the Bloom tells the story of the great changing wind of life, wich wipes away all old so that something new and beautiful may blossom and grow. My paintings are inner landscapes where you can see elements of nature,light, water, sun,and all things that fly. They tell about the leap to the great unknown.

My greatest source of inspiration of has allready for eight years been Raisa Kaipainens Sisäinen Tanssi (Inner Dance) courses. The way Raisa speaks and teaches dance and stillness has been revolutionary to me. In dancing I learn to surrender to the stream of life that opens inside of me. That stream I have learned to rely on in my painting and everyday life. My painting and my life have changed due to this discovery. Life is wild when you dare to leap.

The works on display are large, colourfull, slowly worked oilpainting and smaller watercolour-collage technique flower mandalas. The initial spark in each work comes from something that I have experienced and seen in Raisa Kaipainens dance courses. In all the works you can see many significant events of my life.

Press release from the exhibition;
Galleria Huuto Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki

Mari Leskinen
27.6. – 8.7.2007

Aurinkotuuli

Aurinkotuuli (solar wind) is a painting exhibition from a place deeper and timeless, where the Aurinkotuuli forever blows.

For me, the essential dwellings of the Aurinkotuuli are Raisa Kaipainens courses of Inner Dance, and Villa Taika, the combined home and course center of Raisa Kaipainen and Torsten Ruger. The Aurinkotuuli, blowing into my life at Raisas dance class, is what all my paintings are created
from.The Aurinkotuuli, the deepest and most real flow of life, takes away the unneccessary.The Aurinkotuuli is here.

In the exhibition, there are colourful oils that have slowly, layer by layer, been painted on fabric, as well as Aurinkokehrä, a watercolour and collage series done on paper. The starting impulse of my practise is a movement of inner life, and every painting has a story of its own.

Welcome.

AVA Magazine nr 11 Paris/London, pages 103-105
October 2012