Sofia Heinonen, Charlotte Hedberg

Everything is decided in an instant. Painting demands a constant readiness to respond to what emerges in the here and now, which also entails an element of risk.

In painting, intuition takes centre stage: being in direct contact with the material and with what unfolds, without necessarily having to articulate it in words. I begin with painting’s own language, its rhythm, movement and materiality, before entrusting what has taken shape to the viewer. The painting becomes a space where meanings emerge, shift and remain open.

The image is intertwined with the body, material and experience. The emphasis is on action rather than contemplation; on presence and perception; on experiencing through the act of making.

The gesture (the writing) holds emotions such as vulnerability, aggression, tenderness and resistance. In the encounter between paint and surface, control and loss, construction and dissolution are continuously negotiated. The painting carries the traces of these movements; the surface becomes a kind of wound, where the act leaves its imprints.

The work moves between accumulation and erasure, between adding and removing. Layers are built up, transformed and broken down. Throughout this process, the painting remains open — an imprint of something that has taken place, yet resists being definitively captured.