Ville Kylätasku is an incredible painter from Tampere, Finland, now living and working in Berlin. Usually working with oil on canvas, he is an artist that shows incredible skill, talent, imagination. His themes and use of colour are breathtaking. His work feels like a punch in the face, and can only be compared to that of modern masters of the 20th century.
KALTBLUT: How does Finland play a part in your work?
Ville: It plays a role in seeing beauty in simple little things. My country is rich in nature but can be very minimal in colour, shape and form. Sometimes I feel more colourful being abroad than back home. Living in Berlin is somewhat in between. Thus I feel I’ve found my home here where my minimal aesthetics and hunger for more colour have confronted each other. Finland feels also like a very advanced country after living in Germany.
KALTBLUT: What else has influenced and shaped you?
Ville: The rhythm and energy of my paintings comes from my father who is a musician. I’ve been also influenced by renaissance, mythologies and modern science. We need art that can touch our souls. Life is a mystery that can’t be rationalised but it’s possible to sense so I’m concentrating more on emotions. I’m romantic but sometimes very severe.
KALTBLUT: Were you always interested in painting? What other forms of art interest you?
Ville: Not really. I started to see it when I turned 20. It took some time to have the courage to visualise it as my profession. I’m interested in fashion, music and vulgar things.
KALTBLUT: What are you working on at the moment?
Ville: I’ve been working with transparent materials. It’s tangible but etheric. Like a touch: it is not a material experience but without the matter it would be impossible to experience.
Metaphysically speaking that’s the meaning of Life: to understand ideas through physical experience. That’s the only quality of our existence.
Interview by Emma E. K. Jones
