Kaj Kristian Stenvall (born 25 December 1951 in Tampere) is a Finnish artist who became internationally famous when he began his career in 1989 for painting what his site describes as "a very familiar looking duck.[1]" Many have likened this duck to the Donald Duck of Disney Comics.
Stenvall received his art training at Turun taideyhdistyksen piirustuskoulu/Åbo ritskola (Turku, Finland) during the years 1971-1974. Currently Stenvall maintains a gallery in Helsinki.
KAJ STENVALL Kaj Stenvall was born on Christmas Day in 1951 in Tampere and he started school in 1958 at Tampere Svenska Folkskolan. Stenvall’s family was bilingual: with his father Kaj spoke Swedish and with his mother Finnish. In 1969 Stenvall started more seriously to draw and to paint with oil. In paintings of the late 60’s Stenvall sought a synthesis between pop-art and surrealism. As a student at senior high school you can see influence from Stenvall’s then favourite artists Kimmo Kaivanto and Raimo Kanerva. He also admired American pop-art - Roy Lichtenstein in particular. In 1971 Stenvall graduated from Svenska Samskolan in Tampere. He planned to start studies in architecture, but when he received a price in two series in the Young Finland-Sweden-Culture cap in Gothenburg, he decided to invest on the fine arts. In the same year he started studies at the drawing school of the Turku Art Society, where he studied under Vieno Orre. Stenvall painted works in the spirit of Social Realism, among other things, that depicted ordinary people in their every day work. He received the State Art Prize in 1972 and graduated in 1974. Between 1975 and 1982 Stenvall took part in several group shows. For example, a show at Finnish Painters’ Union Gallery in Helsinki, United Scandinavian exhibition in Lund, Exhibition of Finnish Art in Oslo and Art of Turku in Leningrad. He had solo shows in Art Salong Husa in Tampere, Hörhammer Gallery in Helsinki and Alex Gallery in Varkaus, to mention a few. In addition, Stenvall arranged two photographic shows during the years 1984 and 1985. In 1989 Stenvall made his first attempt to combine comic strip and traditional oil painting, by painting one frame of a comic strip with Micky Mouse and Goofy. Soon after this he started painting the duck character. Source: Tommi Aitio, Kaj Stenvall, 1999 fifth print. Otava.
THE CHARACTERS The status of the outsider and rebellion, a sort of counterdeclaration, are crucial determinants in the study of the psychological landscape of Stenvall’s paintings. A recognition of the significance of tradition and the old masters is important to him, but even more important is the discovery of a freely flowing level of association between old and new, the past and the present. At the surface plane of the paintings this intention is manifested in the incorporation of incongruous elements and the discovery of familiar things as if in the ’wrong’ context.
The period known as ’duck paintings phase,’ was set in motion by profound disappointment over the machinations of the Finnish art world and the intense commersialisation of art in the overheated ’casino’ years of the late 1980s. While neo expressionists and ’prodigies’ fabricated from their works and personas were riding the crests of visual arts trends, Stenvall remained faithful to his own unfashionable and antiquated viewpoint. As an artist he remained the diehard blues man while others chose sexier and, above all, more strident genres and modes of expression. Like Anselm Hollo, Stenvall saw the commercialization and commodification of art as its hackneying, its corruption. His response was not to raise it anew on a pedestal; his answer was the exaggeration of the hackneying. This is why he chose as a recurrent symbol for his paintings a comic-book figure, describing it as ”a mere caricature, a two dimensional archetype of the trite.” An icon steeped in the commercialism of the American entertainment industry and familiar to all, the duck figure was the perfect point of departure for Stenvall´s purposes: it is transparent and at the same time commandingly present but, via its transparency and banality, effortlessly ignored any time at all. The duck is and is not. The duck is an alibi and an auxiliary nexus providing the artist with detachment toward the image. In the duck Stenvall saw the Trojan horse he sought, under the guise of which it was possible to present material for which it would otherwise be impossible to find proper expression. The duck could be the element that threw the viewer into the painting and give the artist freedom of movement beyond the confines of the painting. The transparency of the character has been the artist's objective. The symbol is there, but it could just as well be elsewhere, beyond the border of the picture. At times several duck figures occupy the center of the painting surface, at times we are provided with only a fleeting glimpse of it, but the trancparency remains. The duck simultaneously dominates the viewing experience but is also swept out of the painting. This is why the character of the duck as a symbol holds so much fascination. During the journey, numerous new meanings have been added to the sign; meanings, that have long since been disjoined from the original comic-strip context. In Stenvall’s post-mid-90s work the duck symbol may no longer merely be interpreted as an expression of superficiality or americanism, for the emblem is in one instance grafted onto Russian iconography or age-old angel imagery, in another onto Oriental tradition. The symbol Stenvall exploits, the duck figure, has in a decade’s time proven an extremely versatile tool. Writer Leena Lander has defined Stenvall´s world as ’a strange combination of classical tradition and allegorical imagination’: ’Most essentially, rather than now depicting the exceptional as normal, the normal is the exception: Ducklandia as the climax of Western superficiality and banality, the Divine Comedy of American expressionism, in set in its antimatter, the heavy water of meaningful Western visual art.’ Stenvall is an incomparable verbalist who translates his comic and ironic insights as easily into language as he does into visual imagery. Kaj Stenvall’s verbal and pictorial articulation is tinged with an irony that, all-pervasive and scornful of conventional precepts, is unrelenting even toward the artist himself. His own positioning is conscious and considered. It is unlikely that Stenvall would paint from within the elite as he does as an outsider. He sees in his very alienation a source of power and fuel for what he does. This is why Stenvall is in spirit and in method closer to the rock musician or independent film-maker than he is to the visual artist sanctioned by the elite.
STENVALL TODAY Gallery Kaj Stenvall has been active for over six years, with two new exhibitions every year. In August and February the exhibitions change and they always contain new works. There are also additional shows pending besides the exhibitions at the Gallery: Two charity exhibitions were put together in short notice, to support the close relatives of the school shooting victims, in 2006 Stenvall arranged an exhibition of his photographes from 1980s and in addition, Stenvall’s exhibitions are frequently seen abroad. The gallery differs from other galleries, since it only shows the works of one artist alone. ”Of course it is great to have the possibility to regularly show new works, without the need to wait for vacant exhibitions” Stenvall thinks. The gallery works as an efficient messenger between the artist and his audience, but it also has its disadvantages. Newspapers and critics don´t recognize the kind of gallery, that don’t show new artist’s every three weeks, which leads to few articles or columns. ”Perhaps it is convenient to think, that a gallery of one artist alone simply can’t show interesting and high quality art, only commersial dirt.” Stenvall considers. Source: Gallery magazine 5/10 The head editor of Art Magazine Arja Elovirta thinks that Stenvall’s problem is the thinness of his idea. Stenvall’s credibility in the art scene has been weakened by the duck’s movement from the gallery to milk cartons and even credit cards. The professionals demand renewing, the audience is happy with the old and the familiar. Then again, Fine art critic Taava Koskinen asks ’why do we always have to search for something new?’ In his opinion the media, that is always hungry for something new, forgets to look beneath the surface, and this is difficult especially for artist’s working long term ”For many editors, maybe it would be more thrilling, if something radical would happen in the artis’s personal life. Even cultural journalism has become entertaining and personalized.” Source: HS 30.8.2008 Today art has to push forward continuously. Although, Stenvall’s fans are happy that their favourite artist stayes loyal to his style. Renewing is necessary, as long as the style remains. The artist’s popularity is measured through different surveys. Stenvall ranked third in Finland’s ’Most loved contemporary artists TOP 20’ –contest, and placed first in ’Collectors favourite’ –contest that was published in September 2010. (Source: www.taloustaito.fi). He even reached the top of Iltasanoma’s ”Most loved paintings 2011” (12.3.2011). You can rarely find Stenvall’s works in the post market. Some themes, such as water, are particularly desired and that is why you can expect their prize to go up. (Source: Talouselämä 23.10.2009). During the last years Stenvall has also frequently appeared abroad: In 2007 his works were in Firenze, as well as in Washington DC and in 2009 in Oslo. In 2010 a big Stenvall-exhibition, with the theme of global warming, was arranged in Juukka and it was received with a broad audience. Stenvall has also brought art home in the form of milk cartons in 2005 and pleased wine drinkers by making the label for Pato Amado –wine. – The labels have been working well. When you go to the liquer store, often same thing happen as when you go to the library. You forget all the names. That is why it is good to have a label that stands out from the crowd, Stenvall thinks. In 2007 Stenvall illustrated Eppu Normaali’s record Syvään päähän. The illustration depicts a graceful duck posing in a lightly colored dress (Viikko Kaleva 7.12.2008). Almost every year a new project appears, but more traditional are the charity auctions, that Stenvall participates in every year. In the Fall of 2011 the charity auction is organized by Sirpa Koskinen from Gallery Angelo. The profit goes to UNICEF.