Elisa Rovamo explores the image of the human, the act of looking, and the process of constructing an image.

“It is fascinating to observe unknown people on the streets, in stores, on the metro. What are they thinking and feeling, where are they going, what has happened?

I examine people and images of people, i reflect on the act of looking and the process of constructing an image. My paintings emerge from studying people and the human that appears in images, photographs, artworks and imagination.

Often, it feels like I alternate between painting figurative and abstract elements on the same canvas. The abstract nature of my paintings arises from fields of color, whose interrelationships shape the artwork. A simplified human figure brings a narrative into the painting, a story that unfolds in time: now, just after, just before.

What is left unsaid, what is merely hinted at, is a fascinating aspects of art. Something remains unseen, hidden between the lines. My paintings are simplified, in which everything is not told. There are gaps in the story and space for interpretation. The viewer’s thoughts complete the image, it extends beyond the canvas, allowing a sense of something that is not visibly present.”

Elisa Rovamo

Galleria Pirkko-Liisa Topelius

1.-27.4.2025

Tue 11-17, Wed 11-18, Thu-Fri 11-17, Sat-Sun 12-16

Free entry