Emma Tryti
The works of Emma Tryti shows situations in which the basic conditions of life is actualised. Her work often speaks to our empathic abilities and raises quetions about human nature and the ambivalence towards itself and its surroundings.
Meet an artist who embraces the urge to create and sees darker days ahead along the current path of political paralysis.
Sculpture “Untitled”
Hello and welcome to Hinsides magazine! Please describe the milieu that surrounds you while answering the following questions and tell us who conveys these impressions? You may also shed some light upon the reasons to why you are at this specific location right now?
- I'm in the middle of a mess, really. Reorganizing my studio so I’ll get more space when painting. My studio is located in my old log house, built in 1809. I live in the countryside on the outskirts of Stockholm together with my two children, a cat, three horses, two bunnies, three roosters and nine hens.
Is it possible to recall any crucial moments that made you consider to become an artist?
- My father is an artist, as well as his grandparents. Growing up around them made art seem like a possible occupation. I loved drawing, painting, dancing, theater and writing as a child. But I think it was when my mother took me to see a Frida Kahlos exhibition at Millesgården in Stockholm, I was fifteen at the time, that i decided it was art I wanted to do. Kahlos paintings had a great impact on my young teenage soul.
Watercolor 3-D collage.
Your works seem to emphasize human affiliation with other animals with a focus on caring qualities. A theme that has been trivialized more often than rarely because of its feminine connections through art history. Is this an assumption that you agree with, and if so, is it possible to view your art as consciously cute? Tell us how you found your expression and what you want to convey with your art?
- Haha no, I don´t see my work as consciously cute. I really hope no one sees my work as only cute. I think that the techniques I have chosen to use, especially watercolor painting, has something delightful and beautiful in itself. But if you look closer you'll see that there often is something disturbing the first harmony that the painting mediates.
I´ve made some sculptures that deal with human relations. I hope these sculptures evokes some kind of affection. My work is very intuitive. I get an idea and I carry it through. Sometimes things change during the process and the end result is something else from what I imagined it to be in the first place. I want my work to create stories in the head of the spectator.
Since you´ve been educating yourself at several different art schools I wonder what you think these educations has given you in terms of learnings and insights linked to your own artistry? Is it even possible for a school to teach how to create art? What are your experiences related to this issue?
- The most important thing art schools does is that they prevent you with time. Time in the studio to develop your own expression. At the pre-art school they had a guest teacher system. It meant that we all had a new teacher every1-3 weeks. With every teacher you had a studio visit to discuss your work. When the year had passed I understood that everyone has their own opinion. The work that one teacher rejected the next one would think was interesting and something I should keep on working with. My greatest learning in the end was that it´s only I myself who can decide what to create or not. It´s important to remember that not everyone will like what you do. I´ve had teachers that have been so tough in their criticism that I cried when I got home.
My last professor, at the Academy of fine arts ín Helsinki, said that she couldn't discuss the content of my paintings. She thought I lacked knowledge about painting, chromatics and composition. Art schools can’t teach you to create art, but they can help you strengthen your artistry.
There are so many brilliant artists. In the end it’s not about how good you are that will decide if you make it or not. It's pure luck.
What, in your opinion, makes a great artist, and how would you describe your main assets as an artist?
- It’s a tough question. Unwillingness to compromise and relentlessness maybe. A personal expression. Great art surprises you. I think my strength is that I enjoy and get so amused by creating. I have so many ideas that I don't know how I´ll get the time to realize all of them.
Is there any era in the history of art that appeals to you more than others, and if so, on what grounds? What kind of artistic models do you have and where do you find your inspiration? - I’m very fond of the late medieval ages and the early renaissance. Painters such as Pieter Brueghel, Giotto and Hieronymus Bosch amuses me. The paintings are so dramatic and ridiculous all at once. When it comes to contemporary artists I love Louise Bourgeois work.
She was a genius.
A nice waterfall
There are many artists I like and admire. Sculptors like Klara Kristalova and Roland Persson and painters as Elina Merenmies and Peter Doig. In my own work my inspiration comes from nature, old myths, folklore, literature and questions general for all humans.
What was the latest art experience that made you re-evaluate your view of what art can be?
- There is nothing that shocks me when it comes to art. When you have studied art you realize that everything is art in an art context. It might be crap and uninteresting, but that’s another story.
You´ve just read an excerpt from a longer interview with Emma Tryti made by Hinsides Magazine. The conversation as a whole is available on paper in the first issue of this Magazine together with a lot of other exclusive content.
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