Arja Kilvensalmi / Adele

Kiuruvesi

“Women are angels, the only thing missing is their wings,” says Arja Kilvensalmi, aka the artist Adele. Her beautiful, delicate works reflect this idea. Female power, womanhood and a woman’s life are an inexhaustible inspiration for Adele’s multifaceted and soulful paintings. Of course, there are other themes, too, since she has been making art for a long time.  

In a fascinating way, the strength of Adele’s works is their fragile, beautiful aesthetic. It takes the viewer to other worlds, regardless of whether the subject is abstract or figurative, landscape, woman or still life. As you look at Adele’s paintings, other images and additional meanings emerge from behind the images. The works are alive, and every viewer sees them in their own individual way as they evoke different moods.  

Adele has pursued all things beautiful since she was a child, and started painting in the 1980s. She is a trained chef and sales assistant. Adele works with mixed media, using acrylic paints, which she applies with her fingers, sometimes adding ink, various fabrics, wallpaper and nets – whatever she thinks a work requires.  

Text and photos: Mari Kekäläinen Translation: Kirsti Nurmela-Knox

ITE Art surveys / Northern Savonia 2020–2022