11.4. — 4.5.2025

Verna Joki paints with ink from perception. Her perception is direct: it requires her immediate presence with the painted subject, thus allowing the images to emerge directly. Joki’s works convey lightness and speed, both in the handling of color and in the use of the translucent white silk as a support for the painting.

The impression of the precious silk is akin to that of thin tissue paper, yet the fabric’s memory is shorter and more fleeting than paper’s. Unlike paper, the silk fabric can be straightened and smoothed, and wrinkles can be made to disappear. The shimmering silk also lacks the dry feel of paper, instead it allows color to seep through. The choice of lightly primed silk as the ground for the paintings also affects the form of the works, as mere stretcher bars are enough to hold the piece together, eliminating the need for frames or passepartout. This sense of directness extends to the structure of Joki’s works.

However, both fabric and tissue paper share a sense of transience. If the artist makes a mistake while painting, it is irreversible. Once a stroke is made, it is difficult or even impossible to correct it. The delicately translucent, softly draping silk proves to be unforgiving, as every single mark remains permanent. Attempts to erase an unwanted trace would only leave more marks, more corrections, more pigment on the ground.

Each stroke is inevitable, to the extent that it is almost a matter of destiny, as it determines the entire content of the work. While painting, the artist’s process is almost like stepping into the unknown, with the color emerging from an unformed space of nothingness and the stroke advancing toward the white background. For this reason, the brushstrokes, reminiscent of calligraphy, cannot be fully envisioned before the stroke is made. Drawing and painting thus become a blind act moving toward the unseen.

The lines in Joki’s ink paintings are dense yet light. They carry a strong sense of effortless motion, giving the impression that the works have formed on their own and the lines have settled into place without strain. This impression is reinforced by the fact that Joki leaves space in her works—unpainted silk beyond the image field. Not everything has to be filled in it, and the white areas become as meaningful as the fully painted surfaces. Out of the two main colors – black and light gray – the gray appears like shadows cast by the black, creating a sense of depth and overlapping layers. In works like Palta in Kyrönlahti, Spring warble, Afternoon in Kyrönlahti, essays, and Studio view without Hammershøi, landscapes merge with objects in a still life arrangement. Meanwhile, Grandpa’s still Life, Souvenir from Lempäälä, and Clivia seem to first reveal the objects before opening them toward a landscape. The circle closes with Venice: a holiday image from a waterfront promenade, where converging and diverging lines complement each other like diagonals placed in the moment. The density of the lines fades, only to intensify again in the next moment. Joki’s rhythm of line is also the rhythm of the gaze, its movement across the silky surface.

Martta Heikkilä, PhD, Aesthetics

The artist thanks Kone Foundation and Finnish Art Society for the support of her work.

Verna Joki’s artistic practice consists of drawing from perception with ink. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2021 and completed her studies in painting at the Free Art School in 2017. Joki has held several solo exhibitions in Finland, most recently in 2023 at the Taidekeskus Mältinranta in Tampere, the Poriginal Gallery in Pori, and the Oksasenkatu 11 Gallery in Helsinki.

In 2023, Joki was awarded the Finnish Art Society’s Young artist grant. She is currently working with the support of a three-year grant from the Kone Foundation. Joki’s works are included in the Finnish State Art Collection.