In a time of confronting daily realities and growing personal anxieties there can be a sense overwhelming yearning and nostalgia for a sense of simplicity, for an existence free of modern complications and pressures. This new series of paintings envisages a somewhat bucolic ideal which probably never existed, as suggested by the presence of fictional flora and fauna yet taps into a deep longing for a place where harmony with the natural world has been maintained. Themes of fecund growth and germination dominate - something of a parallel world in which a sense of belonging and connection with all prevails.

Made using fluid washes and dry brushed forms, I play with raw pigments and different dilutions to achieve blurry imagery to suggest of a state of flux, the inherent potential for emergence and transmutation. I incorporate the natural elements by painting on the studio roof and welcome the textural inclusions of wind and rain, and the unique residue they leave. Forms linger between abstraction and figuration, emerging and disintegrating, yet are forever fixed on the surface of the canvas.

Valentina Palonen is a Finnish-Australian visual artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. Her practice draws on colour, intuitive impulses and automatic drawing to express affective experiences of the world. Embracing a fluid approach to painting, she invites spontaneous forms to emerge from her subconscious overlaying the mythological, psychological and experiential. She has exhibited in a variety of gallery spaces nationally and internationally, undertaken residencies both locally and abroad, and holds a MFA from VCA (2012) and a PhD (Art) from RMIT University (2021).

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