Mikko Haiko:

"Painting always leads the way."

When did you discover your interest in visual arts?

I have been drawing and painting since childhood. As a young child, I read comics and drew their characters. While others read Donald Duck, I read Conan the Barbarian. I remember seeing my older sister’s and brother’s drawings and paintings and being captivated by them. I loved art books. All the children in our family drew and painted, even though none of us attended art clubs. I think those early moments of boredom led me to paper and to using my imagination.

After high school, I became deeply interested in photography and went on to study and create photographic art as well. Visual art has therefore always been part of my life, even though the ways I have worked have changed over time.

What does painting mean to you?

Painting is a flow. For me, it means creating a connection between the surrounding world, thoughts, emotions, and the body. When I work, I feel alive. It gives me irrational joy, and I need it in my life. A painting is also a bridge to another person.

It is something I want to carry forward. It is both an anchor and a field of exploration—a playground. I approach it with utmost seriousness and complete playfulness at the same time, but never with indifference. Painting always leads the way.

It is like stepping into a world within the world, somewhere you can return from, yet you always come back changed.

I paint myself whole.

What has studying at the Free Art School given you?

The Free Art School has given structure to my practice. I have been tired in the evenings and curious in the mornings. The school has provided practical tools and knowledge I would not otherwise have encountered. It has also brought into my life a community that values this work and encourages one another.

I now understand painting more broadly than before, and I also sense how little I still know. The school has given me countless repetitions in my work, and repetition builds the foundation for what is to come.

What thoughts or discoveries do you encounter while working?

A painting is like a mirror: it reveals my incompleteness, strengths and weaknesses, hopes, joys, fears, sorrows, fragility, vanity, and ecstasy. I know what I have discovered when a work is finished—or perhaps only later. And that knowledge is not the most important thing. What matters most is the act itself, and then beginning the next painting.

What foundations for life as an artist do you hope to have gained by the time you graduate?

I hope the Free Art School has strengthened my backbone, filled my wings with wind, and at the same time filled my pockets with stones—so that external success, or the lack of it, will not define or restrict me or my work. I hope painting remains part of growing as a human being, that I have the means to create profound works, and that I can nurture my curiosity all the way through.

Mikko Haiko

• Previous education: Master of Arts (Photography), Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. I have also studied graphic design and communication studies.
• Role models: Karhukainen and Johan Venninen
• In addition to painting, I enjoy: Gym training, salsa dancing, playing music and making music.
• Year of birth: 1984
• Anything else you would like to share? I dream of a log studio in the countryside.