A Duck for All Time

Why do I, along with thousands of other Finns, find it easier to identify with a duck than with my fellow men?

Kaj Stenvall created the duck that launched his career and has since appeared, in one form or another, in each of his paintings, in 1989. In its early incarnation, the figure was clearly related to Walt Disney's Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. More recently, the likeness has grown more nuanced.

Stenvall's duck is highly adaptive. It is neither sexless nor ageless, though its gender and age shift, as do its skin color and appearance. In some paintings, it occupies center stage. In others, it remains on the sidelines. It is a transparent and easily identified caricature, an all-familiar icon of Western pop culture. For Stenvall, it is also a universally recognizable symbol of humanity.

The duck is not Stenvall's alter ego; rather, it is his tool. Its purpose is to offer a jumping off point into the multidimensional world of Stenvall's art, to draw the viewer deep inside his paintings and then, to step aside.

Although Stenvall's duck is soulful and humane, it is not human. It is adaptable, flexible and free. It is a symbol of postmodern identity -- identity that absorbs external influences and founds itself upon the uncertainty and relentless quest that characterize our times. And it offers those who find it difficult to ground themselves in our continuously shifting socio-cultural environment, a familiar form with which to identify.

In the Art World

Kaj Stenvall paints with oils. He begins with a warm-hued underpainting and covers that with layer upon layer of color. His paintings do not, however, look old. Stenvall does not aspire to create "precious" art. Rather, for him, painting is a vehicle that allows him to interpret human emotion.

Stenvall knows art history and honors its traditions. His paintings move seamlessly within the context of Western art history. His efforts of the 1990's are particularly rich with references to stylistic trends and individual artists, including Diego Velázquez, Johannes Vermeer, Eero Järnefelt and Edward Hopper. Landscapes evocative of German romanticism provide backgrounds for many of his works, as do interiors and portraits reminiscent of the Dutch Golden Age. Stenvall does not hide the myriad influences on his work. Rather, he celebrates them. And viewers, too, can exult in recognizing the multi-layered allusions in Stenvall's body of work.

At times, Stenvall places his duck in contexts inspired by other media. Some of his works are heavily influenced by film, others, by comic books or literature. Silence is their unifying force. Stenvall's paintings often have a meditative quality that springs from either melancholy or nostalgia.

Stenvall's most significant efforts, however, involve pop art and surrealism. His paintings return to pop art the figure borrowed from popular culture, and reunite them thematically or stylistically. And while his playfulness and treatment of the absurd may evoke Magritte's surrealism, Stenvall is perhaps most naturally considered heir to Finland's own "Turku School" surrealists of the early 20th century.

Ankka elää ajassa

A Duck for All Time

Teokset / Paintings
- pienet / small
- keskikokoiset / medium
- isot / big

Näyttelykuvia / Exhibition pics