About Taru Liikanen, Artist
Ink & Cinema
Taru Liikanen uses water based painting mediums from gouache and watercolor to dreamy black and white paintings with ink. Liikanen works with references from the history of cinema. She studies films with painting with a particular fascination in depictions of women. She has made studies on Alfred Hitchcock´s films, especially Vertigo, and the Finnish actor Regina Linnanheimo.
Taru Liikanen has a Master of Arts degree in Visual culture education and has also studied Film and Television studies in Helsinki university and History of cinema as a student of Peter von Bagh. She also works as a librarian.
“Film noir has a mood that everyone can feel. It's people in trouble, at night, with a little bit of wind and the right kind of music. It's a beautiful thing.”
- David Lynch
How are you supposed to feel?
There is a distinct sense of "what if" and "how about" in the way that children play. As we grow in years, we tend to still find and attain this very same feeling in cinema. What if we extended this "play" into a further exploration of an added medium, with a keen focus on moments of meaning, or any underlying tones of displacement?
Do we find further answers to our "how abouts" and "what ifs" in life?
With these perspectives of further study, we may arrive at something much closer to "truth" than we were expecting.
Seeking, finding
Otherwise unreachable meanings are the realm of Taru Liikanen, artist and educator by both heart and training.
🔗 Read Cinemassociations blog by Taru Liikanen
Her artwork explores and builds upon concepts that are ever-present in cinema: hopes, dreams, fears, love, and contradictions.
Similar to how cinema brings to life concepts of fantasy, Liikanen's art brings to life that which is otherwise under the surface, unseen, yet often intimately felt.
Her work focuses on thinking through the artist's full toolset, in particular in the medium of ink, gouache, and paper.
Photo credit: Tero Liikanen
Purchase original art
Please feel welcomed to browse Taru Liikanen Art Collections and find a piece for yourself, or as a gift for someone you care for.