Maiju Salmenkivi

In Maiju Salmenkivi’s paintings imaginative elements march boldly into urban everyday life. Strong colors and fantastic realism are typical to her large-scale 21st century landscapes. Salmenkivi is especially interested in unfinished and disused city areas. Her work surveys shifting cityscapes and derelict areas, celebrating change and romanticizing urban decay.

People are present in many of the pictures, but often secondary to, or as part of the landscape. Rather than portraying individual characters, Salmenkivi brings humans into her world through their relationship with the environment. In her recent works Salmenkivi has developed her depictions of the man-made environment into touching upon global themes, such as weather phenomena caused by climate change and natural disasters affecting the whole world.

In New York Salmenkivi was encountering new landscapes and “sketching them with a camera.” She was looking for areas that have come into being by accident and haven’t been affected by urban planning. She was also getting to know to New York art scene, exploring large and small, mainstream and alternative art spaces.