Milieu brings together works created by the artist couple Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val over the past ten years. The story begins with Ticket to Finland (2013), a portrait painted by Misha of Raisa, and traces the artists’ shared adventure into the realm of painting. Along the way, they meet sirtaki dancers, tyrants, prophets, witches, bohemians, tree-spirits, plastic surgery survivors, spectres, bygone movie stars, vehement lovers and sauna bathers.
The northern landscapes and domestic interiors have an ambience of magical realism. A curious group of people has gathered in a familiar setting. The paintings offer glimpses into places that foster meaningful encounters: forests, saunas and shared tables.
Raekallio and Del Val’s works resemble intimate genre paintings familiar from art history, depicting everyday life, pastimes, gatherings and celebrations. They evoke 16th-century Dutch genre paintings, known for their lively pastoral scenes and portrayals of human interaction. The atmosphere of genre paintings is a peculiar blend of attentiveness and immersion to one’s work, which may explain their popularity.
Raekallio and Del Val’s paintings present ephemeral moments similar to impressions. Impressionistic paintings aim to capture the moment. Different layers of time intertwine, creating a dreamlike and mysterious atmosphere. In the world envisioned by this artist couple, a striking unity prevails, breaking free from conventional understandings of reality. Their art transcends the distinctions between this world and the afterworld, and between the possible and the impossible, situating itself beyond these boundaries.
Milieu refers to the environment in which something is happening. It portrays a grounded experience in a complex, nomadic world; comfortably inhabiting the milieu, while recognising it as an open-ended web of other spaces and territories. A milieu is not a fixed location. Instead, it is formed in motion, without a clear beginning or end. It reflects the experience of being thrown into a complicated world, the journey of a world citizen.
The identity of the figures in the Space Refugees (2020) painting series – their nationality, gender and social status – has been dismantled. They embody a blend of otherness and belonging, akin to the experience of an individual from Kittilä (Raekallio) and another from the Basque Country (del Val).
What is unusual about the artist duo’s practice is that they paint together on the same canvas. The paintings come to life through an intimate dialogue, dance and craftsmanship. The process is open-ended, a situation constantly in flux. Shared painting seeks to uncover potential that transcends individual perspectives. The act of painting is a dialogue, where one listens and responds, allowing the unique essence of the artwork to emerge.
Raekallio describes what painting means to the couple:
“Inhabiting the mystery, and coming up with original strategies, poetic strategies, evocative strategies to honour that mystery is, I reckon, one of the functions of the practice of painting and probably the very reason why we bother to go to the studio every morning. That’s what, when successful, a painted image is: an evocation and a celebration of the mystery.”
Milieu is the home of creativity – an uncompromising haven of something improbable yet imaginable.
Raisa Raekallio (b. Kittilä) and Misha del Val (b. Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain) are based in Sirkka, a village of 890 inhabitants in Kittilä, near the Levi fell. They have been painting together for over ten years.
Raekallio studied fine art at the Lahti Institute of Design. Del Val studied fine art at the University of Basque Country, Spain and at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He is currently studying for a master’s degree in philosophy at the National University of Distance Education (Spain).
In addition to paintings, Raekallio and Del Val collaborate on performances, curatorial projects and the God Liver podcast. Curated by the couple, the Sirkka Arte Biennale (2017–2025) plays a vital role in advancing contemporary art in the north.
In 2023, Raisa Raekallio and Misha del Val were awarded the Finnish Artists’ Association’s Visual Artist Prize.
The artist couple’s first joint exhibition was at the Aitta Studio in the village of Sirkka, Kittilä, in 2014. Their museum exhibitions include: Lapin piha (Aine Art Museum, Tornio 2024), Kaamos (Espacio Marzana, Bilbao 2024) and Dialogues on Trees and Humans (Kemi Art Museum 2018). Their exhibitions have been showcased in various galleries, including the following: Makasiini Contemporary (Turku 2024, 2021–2024), Galleria Huuto (Helsinki 2022), Tm-gallery (Helsinki 2020), Galleria Napa (Rovaniemi 2018) and Galerie Pleiku (Berlin 2016).
Their artworks are included in several collections, such as: Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, Saastamoinen Collection, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Lars Göran Johnsson’s collection – Turku Art Museum, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Oulu Art Museum, Aine Art Museum (Tornio) and BilbaoArte Foundation (Bilbao).
The artists have received funding from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. The exhibition has received support from the Finnish Heritage Agency.
More information
Curator
Niina Tanskanen
niina.tanskanen@avan.fi
040 585 4499
