Emmi Mustonen Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory member provides some fascinating insights into her practice and experience as a magical realism painter, as she responds to the questions below:
- How do you approach the challenger of staying motivated and inspired in your art practice, and what strategies do you use to keep your creative flowing?
- Can you talk about the role of storytelling and narrative in your work?
- What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspects of your work?
- What advice do you have for aspiring artists who are just starting out?
How do you approach the challenger of staying motivated and inspired in your art practice, and what strategies do you use to keep your creative flowing?
Just living everyday life and experiencing its struggles and happy moments inspires me. I feel that as an artist I channel these experiences into my paintings in my own unique way. I’m motivated by the people around me and by making sure I feed my mind. I don’t really believe in inspiration that suddenly strikes me — that happens very rarely. When I started out as an artist, I just stayed in my studio and painted. I missed out on a lot of life experiences and realized that in order to have something to say, you need to go out into the world and let life touch you. As a visual artist, I find myself looking at even the most mundane things with keen interest. The color of my lunch or a meal at a restaurant stimulates my imagination.
In a world where we’re constantly preoccupied with doing more and being hyper-productive, I once received the greatest advice from a gallerist: “Creating art requires laziness.” It’s often in those moments of downtime that my ideas have the space to grow and become something tangible. You can be burnt out by doing something you love.
Can you talk about the role of storytelling and narrative in your work?
I feel like my paintings are scenes from another world—one that contains familiar elements from our own, but is more magical and surreal. I’m learning to embrace weirdness in an unapologetic way. I usually begin with an idea rooted in my own life, but as I work, I deliberately distance myself from the subject.
I was brought up quite religious, and as a child I saw signs of demons and God everywhere. I was especially familiar with the stories of the Old Testament. The world around me felt scary, yet magical and exciting at the same time. I was terrified of death and believed the world was a dangerous place—which is rather funny in hindsight, considering I grew up in Finland, one of the safest and happiest countries in the world.
I channel these early experiences into my work. I’m deeply interested in magical thinking—not only the religious kind, but also the cultural myths we create for ourselves, such as the idea that heterosexual love makes us whole or self-help beliefs like the law of attraction.
What do you consider to be the most rewarding aspects of your work?
Getting to be myself—being able to “play” as a profession—is something I still feel incredibly grateful for. I think I would have exploded with happiness as a child if I had known that one day I’d get to invent these stories and images as my job.
Sometimes I’m genuinely moved by the way people interpret and respond to my work. Their insights occasionally reveal new aspects of it that I hadn’t noticed myself. It gives me a deep sense of purpose when someone connects with a piece, or when a viewer feels seen through a portrait I’ve painted of them.
What advice do you have for aspiring artists who are just starting out?
It’s safest to have multiple sources of income. For me this means classical portraiture, my own painting series, commissioned work, teaching, and now expanding into tattooing. You will have to do many things besides creating your artwork. People will also support you more if you treat them well.
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