The Finnish artist cherishes formal perfection, and this is the reason why his paintings look precious, not at all casual, following a process of stylistic evolution in the choice of techniques and media. The color worked by spatulas, like the tracks typical of the photo technique of panning, the use of oil mixed with magnesium components in order to preserve the fluid nature of colors, and of iron dust altering chromatic tones with the combined action of an oxidizer, as well as the choice of acrylic paints made with different materials, more resistent and more ductile than oil. Not to mention the painstaking selection of the media and their accurate preparation: rough jute cloth takes the place of more refined linen; sometimes it is used on its reverse side, sometimes it is treated, other times it is substituted by velvet cloths or by coffee sacks, with their own drawings and stamps.

Very few painters equal Palosuo’s mastery of techniques. His quest is aimed at a sort of alchemic balance between subject and treatment of materials. This is the starting point of an artistic conception which, in its eternal repetition, always seems different to us. Borrowed from a contemporary iconography, Palosuo’s themes – flowers, men, trees – belong to that “forest” of images that – as signaled by the artist – “every Finn keeps and carries inside”.

LUCA BEATRICE