Nina Rantala
 
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2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
 Butterfly I-IV
Hall Of Fame
Artgenda 2002
Hamburg, Germany 2002
in collaboration with Elisa Haaranen

In my drawings on skin I use both water resistant and non-resistant colours.
Some of the colours stay on the surface, some go deeper in to the skin resembling a old tattoo. The skin can be as oily or as dry as it happens to be at the moment. I leave the skin as it is and start to draw on it.

Drawing on skin is very intimate and physical. The surface of the skin is soft to draw on.
The pen moves on the skin and transmits a soothing sensation to the person receiving the drawing. The surface of the skin moves in the rhythm of breathing. The situation has a sacral and silent touch. The drawing process involves sharing and trust.


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The skin is the outmost extension of the human body between man and the universe.
Through his/her skin a person becomes real to another. You can’t make a drawing closer to somebody than when drawing on to ones skin. The colour gets absorbed through the skin and becomes a part of the body.

I have made these drawings since 1999. First the drawings were abstract improvisations. I treated skin as a map. The wrinkles and lines show the signs of life. The drawing almost already exists on it. I just followed the shapes of muscles, veins, and wrinkles.

“Butterfly I-IV” have been exhibited also in Forum Box, Helsinki 2002.