RAISA RAEKALLIO & MISHA DEL VAL: ENCOUNTERS OF BROKEN FOLK

Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val are a Lapland-based artist couple working in collaboration in painting, drawing, printmaking and performance art since 2013. Recently, the field of their artistic collaboration has extended to podcasts and co-curatorial projects, incorporating other artists. Raekallio and del Val make paintings together following similar principles of those of musicians during a jam session. Their painting collaboration is an open-ended process of listening - to each other and to the will of the paintings - and responding intuitively and empathetically.

In Raekallio and del Val’s recent body of works, a bunch of personages of different constitutions, backgrounds, temperaments and walks of life, sit inexplicably around the same table, or share the same enclosure. The works present bonfires, board-games, and flying brooms; elements from theatre, literature and spiritual traditions; and flickering glimpses of the Northern scenery that surround the artists in Lapland. The driving force of the project remains a celebratory spirit for diversity and coming together.

"The works we produce also speak about how we as artists, despite our different backgrounds, upbringings and languages in Lapland and Basque Country, have found a reliable and meaningful place to come together: the arena of artmaking and painting", the artist couple declares. "The essence of our collaboration is equalitarian, and is grounded in a trust in each other and in the Process, a pliant sensitivity, a curious mind and an open heart."

Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val’s jointly made paintings are part of private and public collections throughout Finland including Wihuri Foundation Collection at Rovaniemi Art Museum; the Lars Göran Johnsson Collection at Turku Art Museum; Saastamoinen Foundation Collection at EMMA, Oulu Art Museum and Aine Art Museum, amongst others.