Miisa Mäkeläinen: Lemmenlätäkkö

Miisa Mäkeläinen is a Helsinki-based painter whose motifs seem to hint at something familiar, yet resist any fixed interpretation. Soft shapes flow across the canvas, intertwining nature’s cycles with themes of embodiment. Gushing, squirting, and bubbling, they carry life within them as they spread and merge into a wider web of connections. Nature comes to life in tree canopies, mycelia, root systems, leaf veins and meandering streams that pulsate, inhale, and exhale within the layers of paint. The picture plane disintegrates, figurative elements become camouflaged in the terrain, and ultimately metamorphose into something new: sprouting new life, reaching upwards, gradually opening and bursting into bloom.

For Mäkeläinen, painting is a way of slowing down and being present. Rather than rushing her brush, she allows it to linger, taking time to work out small details within larger compositions. She describes herself as having given herself more space than before, and painting has consequently begun to feel freer. She now leaves layers visible that she previously would have painted over, allowing subtle transitions to emerge in the works. Meanwhile, her palette has acquired new depth, driven by her fascination with how colours that initially seem mismatched can be brought together to create harmony. 

Miisa  Mäkeläinen (b. 1992) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2025. She has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Finland, at venues including Galleria Huuto, the Ahjo Art Centre, and the Finnish Painters’ Union Gallery. Her works are held in the Finnish State Art Deposit Collections and other significant collections, including that of the Finnish Art Society.

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