Yu Gan: Please tell me about yourself briefly.

Anna-Maija Rissanen: I was born in 1983 in Järvenpää, Finland, and have been living in Belgium since 1995, with regular trips back to Finland since 2009. I graduated from the Royal Fine-Arts Academy of Brussels in 2009 with a Master of Arts (with Great Distinction) and also qualified as an art teacher. I speak 5 languages: finnish as mother tongue, french almost like mother tongue, good english, some german and chinese.

As a painter I focuse mainly on painting inner meditative landscapes, water and rock, bordering on the abstract. In my paintings I use mixed media including watercolour, acrylics, ink and collage on canvas or on paper, amongst others. I want to create spaces for meditation and contemplation, journeys to landscapes and towards oneself.

In 2009 I won the first prize at the Godecharle art contest for young painters, architects and sculptors. In 2011 I held an extensive solo exhibition at a prominent Finnish art gallery in Helsinki, Galleria Bronda. Since 2009 I have held 13 individual exhibitions (Brussels, Paris, Helsinki, etc.) and taken part in more than 20 group exhibitions. In November 2011 a 20-page article about me and my work appeared in 'Särö', the Finnish culture and poetry revue.

Yu Gan: What is your main purpose of study at CAA?

Anna-Maija Rissanen: So I came to CAA to learn about the Chinese power of strokes, composition, and chinese thinking in landscape painting. I came to look for time that doesn't much exist anymore, though sometimes here I can get glimpses of it. I also came here to try to understand why do I paint like Chinese and to that I've found answers. Nothing too much mystifying in it, though still some places I've visited I feel like I've already painted them. Once one chinese person told me that my works reminds him from Zao Wouki. I was really surprised to hear that, because actually when I was at the second grade of bachelor at my art academy one elder student who saw what I was doing told me to go see Zao Wouki's work because what I was doing reminded of him. I really much appreciated and do still appreciate Zao Wouki's work, and now I can really assume that his work has influenced my work.

Yu Gan: Could you please describe the topic or idea of the work that you are currently doing?

Anna-Maija Rissanen: My current idea is to be able more incorporate my learning of chinese painting to my own work so that they are as parts of my work as they would have always been. I've learned new skills and it is about to find way to train them to follow my own flow. At the moment my newest painting is having pavillions, bridges, trees, and chinese rocks that are little hidden in the picture. This work even is gathering elements from all my previous works and from thoughts how to represent a landscape. It stays quite figurative with those concrete elements.

Yu Gan: I am curious about your future plan. Could you tell me a lit bit about it?

Anna-Maija Rissanen: I return back to Finland in mid August. In beginning of September I am invited to take part of a watercolour group exhibition that is gathering the famous and leading Finnish painters at Hyvinkää's art museum that is known for its good, meaningful and accurate contemporary art exhibitions. I feel really honoured to be part of these painters who most of them I admire a lot what they do. In Finland my adult students are already waiting for me to come teach them what I've learned here. My gallerist of Gallery Bronda is also waiting works to be able to held an exhibition that was postponed because of this China trip. I'll be working for that too.  Then what will come out of my Chinese gallery contacts might open totally different doors. I'm confident and happy about my future.

Francisco Hauss, Mexico, CAA Visiting Artist

这里介绍的八位艺术家来自于六个国家，他们是中国美术学院的硕士、博士研究生，访问艺术家或访问学者; 其中有三位和我都是跟随同一个导师，中国美术学院副院长王赞教授。我逐个地对这些来自不同国度、不同专业、不同年龄和不同职位的艺术家进行了不同内容或相同问题的访谈，得到了他们非常真诚的回答，使我很受感动。现在，除了谢玲慧仍在校学习以外，另外七位艺术家已结束了学习和进修生活，回到了他们的原单促位或自己的国家。我把与这些同学和朋友们的交谈汇编成一个专题 << 相聚在国美 >> ，向读者介绍他们在中国美术学院的经历和体会，展现他们学习的热情和创作活力，并与大家来一起来欣赏他们的艺术作品。

"中华艺术网" 艺术总监喻干