Visual and performance artist Ilona Kivijärvi follows her own path. Spatiality is always important for her when she starts working on an artwork. For her, the space is the stage. The present art cabinet started with Sunflower, which forms its centre. A fascinating, exciting world emerges from the art cabinet, teeming with details and secrets that reveal themselves and unravel after a moment of exploration.
Humans shape their environment all the time as if there were no other species. It makes the artist wonder. Ilona Kivijärvi is interested in the phenomena of life, different levels of reality and interaction between them. The artist often combines treasures found on her expeditions into the nature with her artistic ideas. For her, walking and being in the wildest possible forest is the best cure for everything that is dreary in the world. Each thing falls into its place as you explore the multi-layered harmony of the forest.
Ilona Kivijärvi finds change and transformation interesting and inspiring. Everything changes all the time; the light changes, the seasons change. You can see how time moves looking at your own skin. To the artist, the details of the plants, their little lines and the variations in colours are impressive and always have a purpose.
The tiny doll that carries a heart in the cabinet is also a reference to the artist’s background as a puppeteer in the 1990s. For her, the various figures, which have taken on a new sculptural form through the combination of materials over the years, are still important.
