UK artist Sam Worthington, also known as Wasp Elder  was recently in Turku, a charming city in the southwest coast of Finland where he was invited to take part of this year’s Upeart festival.

According to the artist, the original picture is taken by Finnish photographer and film maker Eino Makinen. The picture originates from a film that he made in 1930 called ‘Winter Village’ where he documented the cultural traditions and rituals of peasant life. In my reinterpretation I have cut the image up resulting in a narrative which shows the fragility of between generations.

Like in the rest of his work, Wasp Elder makes use of photography as a reference for his painting, a clear impression of reality that at some point gets left behind giving way to a change of focus towards the process of painting, making the image (memories) into something physical like a painting. It is in this process that memories and thoughts become blurred.

 

About the artist

Wasp Elder aka Sam Worthington was born in the UK in 1986. Wasp Elder is a socially engaged artist who paints pictures populated by enigmatic figures and unstressed backgrounds, enticing a sentiment of an obscure journey. His paintings present an evocative combination of solitary figures, collaged scenes, close-ups, obscured features, and potential catastrophe. Through this working process he is able to present often marginalised figures through a dignified representation. Highlighting their humanity outside of the conflict that is seen to define them.

More about Wasp Elder on: website | facebook | instagram

Author: Fran

Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.