Väinö Kunnas : Blue Studio

The way I see it, is the person was having a negative flashback. There is a door, or I don’t know if that’s a door down there, but it is light. It could be like a way out or something.

I find that there is no curve expect for the person itself, so every other thing is very rigid and not so emotional. But he or she is revealing herself as vulnerable because it’s the only curve that this picture has. He or she is saying that I’m kind of a victim of this situation, and my emotions are very affected by these surroundings. And there might be another person. That could be a shoulder of another person on the right, but he’s not visible. He’s also turning his back to that person, so there’s no personal communication in this picture. That makes this painting more lonely.

For me, I don’t know why but I imagined the shadow of the figure as a younger person, maybe like a child around 11-12 years old. Maybe this is like the story of their childhood or something about how they maybe had a troublesome past. Then I see everything else like elements of the story. The setting to me would be urban, I thought of New York because the bridge thing. It kind of reminds me of the Brooklyn Bridge. I think there are a lot of people in New York that maybe are there, but they’re not seen, like in society. So maybe like orphan children or homeless people.

I feel like this is very personal painting. Maybe it’s been therapeutic to the artist and it’s done more for the pleasure artist and the viewer. Something about loneliness and living in a big city. The background with the large emblem on it, I instantly thought of Argentina. Like it is the lower half of the flag of Argentina.

I just had a thought about Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. I remember one scene [movie The Hook] like there is this big shadow and just like, she’s this small but the shadow is this big. I was thinking about childhood and stuff, and the lost boys and Peter Pan. Tinkerbell is the one that goes and then finds the lost boys and brings them in Neverland. And this could be [meaning the painting] that moment. So maybe that light character there is kind of like hope for finding the lonely lost people and bringing them in the happy place.

I think that this could be a depression of an artist, because it’s this blue color and I think it’s like melancholy. And then back of this figure there could be a canvas. The artist is looking out from the window; there are two curtains and he’s looking at the empty street. He doesn’t have a clue what to do next. Searching for an idea, and depressed in a big city. And then there is hope, this Tinkerbell figure. It’s a small idea coming. I didn’t realize that there is another shoulder there. That could be like being very lonely in the marriage, even if there is another person that can be very lonely.

I don’t feel negative about this painting. I don’t have any negative ideas like he or she is seeking for a light. I think it’s just about being alone, not lonely but alone. It’s something chosen like feeling when you’re up and everybody’s sleeping and you just think about things and you find creative ideas or you just turn in to yourself.