painting

Fragments

We are in pieces.

Fragments.
Shards.
Tiny particles that don’t fit together
Mismatched codes,
Ironically similar
In our flaws and lacks

We walk, but we don’t question the journey.
We don’t understand the path,
It seems deprived of destination and purpose.
We just carry on,
with or without legs
With or without eyes.
We just follow silent orders
Anonymously in the crowds
We dare not to stand out of norm, of compliance
We can’t stop
Catch our breath.
Disrupt traffic,
Rest.
We succumb to the steep climb.
Hopping that the unbridled descent
will shorten the path, spare us, somehow.

We walk, breathe,
we eat and sleep
when possible.
We obey
inevitably.
We are all besieged.
Inside and outside
all the walls in this world.
We are patient and we go mad
We wait, and we hope
that something will change
Someone will save us
Anything will happen
Besides the pain
Despite the fate
Beyond the insanity
Above the oppression
Under the sun
We are scattered all over the place
Living lawful lies
Defying absurdities
Coping with what is.
But what is
Is way less than we deserve

We dream of surviving chaos and catastrophe
Hoping our fate would heal and redeem us.
We surrender to time
Holding to the pieces that are long gone
Whipping the dust off our remains
wipping dry tears off our eyes
We continue,
filled with shivering hope
and whatever is left of
our sacred innocence.

Luciana Mariano (c)

Waiting – acrylics on fine Belgian linen – 180×215 cm

Painting done during the Serlachius Residency in Mänttä, Finland, between March and June 2025.

Kevään Iloa / Spring Joy

Kevään iloa / Spring joy

Minna Lehväslaiho, Luciana Mariano, Kikka Nyrén

2. – 19.5.2024

Opening of the exhibition: Wednesday 1 May, 14 – 17

Spring, the moment that all Finnish residents have been waiting for, brings light and color back to their hearts and minds. The colors, the variations of light and shadow in art, partly unite and separate the works of Kikka, Minna and Luciana. However, the atmosphere and the playful, naive outlook on life create common paths for these friends in the world of art. Individually, their art differs, but combined like this, it evokes the same warm, springtime atmosphere. This exhibition will certainly immerse you in the playfulness and joy of the Finnish spring.

About the artists:

Minna Lehväslaiho is an illustrator, naive artist, art teacher, and scientist from Kauniainen. She likes to create happy art, and in her paintings even houses are happy and kind. Minna’s preferred media are acrylics, ink, and watercolors. Minna is a member of Finnish Naive Artists, Kuvittajat, and Freelance Graafikot. A two-time postcard artist of the year, she loves to illustrate postcards and postage stamps.

https://minna.co

https://instagram.com/minnalehvaslaiho

Born in 1971 and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, Luciana Mariano is the third generation of naive artists in her family. Everyone around her did some art: grandmother, uncles, mother, but only as a hobby. She made a career in the corporate market and painted only in her spare time. Until she was 38, feeling ashamed of her childish trait, she discarded everything she painted immediately after finishing. In 2008, her production became more intense, leading to her first exhibition. Since then, she has been showing and selling her art in many countries around the world. In 2018, she moved to Finland, and in 2023, she became a Finnish citizen. She is now devoting herself full-time to restarting her career in Europe. Finland is finally the place she loves to call “her forever home”.

https://lucianamariano.wordpress.com

Kikka Nyrén: I paint with acrylics on canvas. Besides paintings, I also create sculptures in ceramics. In my paintings the world is at peace. With my art, I seek connection with strangers. We are different, which could make us rich if we choose so. I believe humans should respect nature (which we are part of), instead of destroying the place we live in. I believe animals are our brothers and sisters. My bright colors assure that there will be spring after the long and gray winter. Born in 1951 in Helsinki, Finland. Currently living in Lahti, Finland.

Friends from Helsinki: all invited! It will be a pleasure seeing you there!

Opening: 01.05, from 2 til 5pm.

Humanity?

I am not sure where we went wrong.

We see people but not all are humane.

What happened to peace, to harmony, to respect, to solidarity, to empathy? What happened to love?

There is injustice in each and every country, continent. Events so bizzarre that we doubt not only our capacity to love, but the human capacity to think.

We must re-think and re-evaluate our human attitudes towards the planet and towards each other. We are walking away from the humane society we should be evolving to be. We are becoming something else and it doesn´t look good.

We should be more like nature, more like the ecossistems that surrounding us, because there we can see that what doesnt comply to the laws of life and love, is doomed to extintion.

………….

Não tenho certeza de onde erramos.

Vemos pessoas, mas nem todas são humanas.

O que aconteceu com a paz, com a harmonia, com o respeito, com a solidariedade, com a empatia? O que aconteceu com o amor?

Há injustiça em cada país, continente. Acontecimentos tão bizarros que duvidamos não só da nossa capacidade de amar, mas da capacidade humana de pensar.

Devemos repensar e reavaliar nossas atitudes humanas em relação ao planeta e uns aos outros. Estamos nos afastando da sociedade humana que deveríamos estar evoluindo para ser. Estamos nos tornando outra coisa e isso não parece bom.

Devemos ser mais como a natureza, mais como os ecossistemas que nos rodeiam, porque ali podemos ver que o que não obedece às leis da vida e do amor, está fadado à extinção.

Luciana Mariano ©

©Art: When it starts to rain I – acrylics on canvas – 50×70 cm – 2022.

O[d]d | arts.
©Odd flowers, 2022 -work in exhibition and sale at Naivistit Ittalassa / Finland

O[d]d | aRt.

Odd flowers

for odd times

The oddity of perceptions

Who watches, who is watched?

When, How, Why?

Who?

For whom?

What’s new, what is old

What’s odd?

Color or shape?

Reality or invention?

Art or work?

Lost or found?

Who plays?

Who’s played?

O

D

d

Ends.

All arts are political acts.

🥕

Luciana Mariano ©

Absenc/s/es
hdr

We are all there and yet, no one is present. Life can be just like that; we think we exist, but we are ever desappearing, from the very moment we started.

Estamos todos lá e, no entanto, ninguém está presente. A vida pode ser assim; pensamos que existimos, mas estamos desaparecendo, desde o momento em que começamos.

The end.


I moved to a new country six months ago. A new language that is not very easy to learn. A new place and culture, new challenges. It’s about love and survival, always, life is. And every new challenge brings its own new obstacles and pleasures, lessons and adversities. This is my new place, I want to learn how to exist here.

Therefor I am stepping out of my artistic carriere. 

The past ten years were all about struggle with very little reward. Times when I gave a lot of my work in exchange of food and simpathy, but most times in exchange of nothing. I survived but I can’t say I made a living out of it. I worked a lot but my work was many times locked up in dusty dark cellars with no sales. The world doesn’t reward or support simple art. And I am a simple artist. 

Some gallerists got their free paintings and never sold a piece.

Some tried to help, most never even bothered.

Friends bought underpriced paintings and I was fed for a while.

Some stole my paintings and took my works without ever paying for it. 

In fact, they stole much more than they took. 

Many appreciated my work but didn’t understand the bigger picture.

Women artists should be encouraged, supported, consumed. I am not getting younger, I cant wait for society’s higher conscienceness to kick in. There are children in cages in this world, human and civil rights being slaughtered, the last thing people are thinking about is silly naive art. People are either worried with their new car or vacation or struggling to put food in their plates, it’s not about art. 

I should use my silly art to make a statement, but my plate is also empty and nobody works on an empty stomach.

I can’t do this anymore. I need to survive. 

I need to grow out of my sorrow and be selfish enough to do another thing.

I am in another country, I am in another story, this is my new thing.

I have now, for the first time in my life, a love big enough that makes me feel safe and nurtured, energized and motivated. I want this change. I need to belong. I am going to take this opportunity to reinvent myself, to learn and be a part of something real. New beginnings are in order. This is it.
Thank you to the few real dear people who truly supported me for this past 10 years.

I know who you are and I don’t forget.
This is the end. And it feels right.

Luciana Mariano

Do que é feita a arte? What is art made of?

I just spent a week in an Artistic Residency that changed my life. A week that clearly gave me and taught me much more than I could ever give and teach. Projeto Âncora was born of a dream of very loving, altruistic people and became a reality and a life changing mechanism for many, now me included.

It started up as an after-school activity place for underpriviledged kids, then a circus school and finally an innovative, inspiring, amazing learning hub (school becomes an obsolete term for what they do and stand for), where kids learn whatever they have officially to learn and much, much more than that. Kids become the best version of themselves in there. They learn how to love, respect, listen, share, see…

For a whole week I sat there, under the circus tent and I painted. I had hundreds of curious eyes on me. I was surrounded and encountered many partners, story tellers, advisors, critics, helpers. I answered questions I had never thought about, I heard comments and compliments I would never thought were possible or even existed. Me and my painting were, daily, kissed, hugged and held lovingly by kids from 2 to 80 years old. And it felt good. In fact, I truely believe I was never loved this much. 

In return I also loved. I listened, observed, accepted, laughed, cried, talked, learned, painted. 

Art is made of many things. It’s an individual process inserted in a very collective one. I learned many things this week, but the greatest lesson for me was understanding that love is the essencial raw material to compose any and everything good and beautiful that urges to exist. Life needs love and Art is definetely made of it.

I deeply thank every and each child, teacher, friend and person I met at Projeto Ancora this week. You all make the world a better place to live in. Humanity stands a chance because of people and places like this.

Visit their website: http://projetoancora.org.br/index.php?lang=eng

❤️

Eu acabei de voltar de uma semana em uma residência artística que mudou minha vida. Uma semana que me deu e me ensinou muito mais do que eu claramente poderia dar e ensinar. Projeto Âncora nasceu de um sonho de pessoas muito amorosas e altruístas e tornou-se uma realidade e um mecanismo de mudança de vida para muitos, agora eu the também incluída.

Começou como um lugar de atividades pós escola, para as crianças desfavorecidas, em seguida, uma escola de circo e, finalmente, um inovador, inspirador e incrível centro de aprendizado (“escola” torna-se um termo obsoleto diante do que eles fazem e representam), lá as crianças aprendem o que eles têm oficialmente que aprender e muito, muuuuuito mais do que isso. Lá dentro as crianças tornam a melhor versão de si mesmas. Eles aprendem a amar, respeitar, ouvir, compartilhar, a enxergar …

Durante uma semana inteira me sentei lá, sob a tenda de circo e pintei. Eu tinha centenas de olhos curiosos sobre mim. Eu estava cercada e assessorada por muitos parceiros, contadores de histórias, conselheiros, críticos, ajudantes. Eu respondi perguntas às quais eu nunca havia imaginado, ouvi comentários e elogios que eu nunca pensei que fossem possíveis ou sequer que existissem. Eu e minha pintura eram, diariamente, beijadas, abraçadas e carinhosamente acolhidas por centenas de crianças de 2 a 80 anos. Foi muito bom. Na verdade, eu acho que nunca havia sido tão amada.

Em troca, eu também amei. Eu escutei, observei, aceitei, ri, chorei, falei, aprendi, pintei.

Arte é feita de muitas coisas. É um processo individual inserido em um outro processo, muito colectivo. Eu aprendi muitas coisas esta semana, mas a maior lição para mim foi compreender que o amor é matéria-prima essencial para compor tudo e qualquer coisa que seja realmente boa e bela e que precise existir. A vida precisa de amor e arte é definitivamente feita da mesma coisa.

Eu agradeço profundamente a cada criança, professor, amigo e pessoa que conheci no Projeto Âncora nesta semana. Vocês todos fazem do mundo um lugar melhor para se viver. A humanidade tem uma chance, graças a causas, pessoas e lugares como este.

❤️
Saiba mais sobre o Projeto Âncora: http://projetoancora.org.br

Fotos: Mara Nogueira

   
 

   
   

Where to go?

20120816-214050.jpg

I have no idea where to go… But I can feel I am getting closer.
I know I don’t need a car to take me there. Nor luggage.
My trip starts in my heart, travels through my eyes and can reach the most distant places in the Universe, as long as my hands can hold my brushes and my soul can carry my dreams.
It’s a lonely path, no doubt.
But there will be amazing creatures and moments along the way. Bonfires and the shadows will keep me warm and dance with me when the wind blows and the stars speak throughout the silence.
Life is an illusion. Time doesn’t exist.
But art does.
And thats all that matters.

Half way there…

GEF714~1

I painted for almost 11 hours today! My eyes, hand and arm need some rest… and yet, my heart and soul ask for more!

It´s been so much fun to paint this sculpture! Besides all the daily adversities, life always offers fantastic (and perhaps disguised) presents.

We have to keep an open heart to recognize them… They may look simple or meaningless, but they are definetely up-lifting!

I´m grateful for the gift of painting!

And you? What are you grateful for?