Kivinen, Tiina

Jury statement 2012:

Tiina Kivinen (born 1971) has for years devoted herself to the art of mezzotint. This is an intaglio printmaking technique dating back as far as 1650, and is seldom used by artists today. It is a time-consuming technique that is particularly suited to the production of nuances in black and grey tones.

Kivinen’s work is distinguished by the small size of her prints, which reflects the pace at which she works. After a plate has been used several times the artist often gives it a new life, changing it and using it in her subsequent work. Nature in a clear and minimalistic form has been and continues to be the central focus of Kivinen’s art. Her works pay deep homage to the Finnish landscape, and her most recent pieces have introduced humans into this landscape as explorers. The jury found it intriguing that Tiina Kivinen has chosen the mezzotint technique as her preferred medium, and remarked on how this technique and the pictorial content she focuses on bring a sense of mutualism and clarity to her work. The jury was also impressed by Kivinen’s high technical proficiency and her purposeful efforts, diligently crafted over an extended period of time.