Friday January 1st
Artist of the month
Saara Vaniala
Saara Vaniala (1987, Helsinki) is a local babe and self-taught visual artist, musician, writer and philosopher. Her curiosity towards mysticism translates into figurative, yet deeply symbolic artwork that often deals with transformation and evolution. Her mixed-media pieces and their colour palettes are well-thought-out – despite their kooky, pseudo-random look. Digital platforms inspire her (and you might want to follow Saara’s posts on Facebook).
Saara describes the work done for Post Bar: “I love clubbing. I need it like I need air. It heals me. Glorious dance music, the humble and celestial arte of DJing, and the beautiful, dancing people. All happening in this precariously permissive setting called ‘the club’. In my piece I wanted to show what goes on in Post Bar. To tell a story to those who’ve never been inside and wonder what it’s like, but also to give a cheeky wink to those who frequent the place and know what’s up. A map of Post Bar.”
Artist of the month
SJ Hockett
SJ Hockett is an artist and designer working across various media including creative/art direction, printed matter, illustration, motion graphics and installation as well as publishing projects through the Wonder Press moniker.
SJ describes the work done for Post Bar: “The poster imagery is inspired by my most recent body of work/work in progress entitled ‘Eternal Life Motorsports’. The works visually explore concepts of endless repetition and eternity; these themes are easily translated to (something) within electronic/club music. The Coyote infinitely repeats its chase with Roadrunner, the barbed wire links are reiterations with no decipherable beginning, or end.”
Artist of the month
Eevi Kolinen
Eevi Kolinen is a graphic designer from Helsinki and a nearly graduate of Design Institute of Lahti. While she lived in Berlin she found her passion for graphic art and has been enthusiastic about it ever since. The poster for Post Bar is a part of her ongoing Keho -series.
Kindness is the base of Eevi’s life and she hopes to spread it through her artwork and other projects. She’s a part of Helsinki based MYÖS collective that organises events with the focus on creating a safer places for everyone. The collective wants to increase respectful behaviour, inclusivity and diversity in the local party scene.
Eevi describes the work done for Post Bar: I wanted to capture an ideal moment at a club, where a young woman is dancing carelessly, enjoying herself and forgetting the surroundings without being disturbed.
Artist of the month
Niklas Hallman
Niklas Hallman is a 25 year-old-artist and Helsinki city boy who recently moved back to Finland after studying 4 years in the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. He graduated from the fine art department and has mainly worked in the field of painting and constructive collages since then. His producer alias ’Leppis’ also brings out a performative act with a wide spectrum of interests, such as Live Sets and performances. Niklas also has a rather active background in the Finnish/European skate scene and as a young violinist in the conservatory of Helsinki.
Niklas describes the work done for Post Bar: “One of my main cores and sparkles for my way of working is the conscious usage of improvisation. How to leave space for the surprize and yet still be in control. This also relates to my mindset of clubbing. How to avoid the expectations for sensations and find a pure way of being in this environment. The balance of planning and compromises in combination with an ideology of ”It is what it is and how to make the best out of it”. The moment when you find yourself in the dancefloor surrounded by a packed crowd and still find the way to trance in nothingness is what I was relating to while working with this piece.”
Artist of the month
Paintings
Paintings is rat race after hours.
Forget what you think you should be doing
Expect nothing
Do it together
Learn
Unlearn
No hugging, no learning
Paintings describes the work done for Post Bar: Lounge at the beach, July 2018. Picture from Paintings archive, chosen to prove a point to self that something done in the past can be used now. A lesson to overachieving self that you don’t need to start from scratch.
Artist of the month
Fredrik Karell
Fredrik Karell is turning 26 in July and it sure is his favorite month. He is a hard-working dreamer and soon to be a graduate from the Design Institute of Lahti. Fredrik is an entrepreneur in the skateboard industry and working as a freelance graphic designer for a couple of companies. He grew up in the archipelago and during free time he prefers to draw, read books and do outdoor activities.
Fredrik describes the work done for Post Bar: “In my latest work I have experimented with the use of wax pastels.In this piece I wanted to create a feeling of timelessness. A space that felt the same in the past as it will in the future, a place to unwind and give room for honesty in forms of thoughts and discussions.”
Artist of the month
Unni Leino
Unni Leino is a graphic designer based in Helsinki. She most often finds her inspiration from sarcastic sentences and word plays.
Unni’s visual language springs from retro logos, cartoons, futuristic matter and sports.
In her spare time she enjoys running and telling dad jokes. Sometimes dad laughs.
Unni describes the work done for Post bar:
”Playfulness is something I always thrive for in my work. In this poster I brought to life the essence of this summer, blue skies and popsicles. Featuring the flavours raspberry, orange, blueberry, salty liquorice, lemon, pear and cola. Mm… Tasty!”
Artist of the month
Aliina Kauranne
Aliina Kauranne is a graphic designer and 3d-artist based in Helsinki, specialised in pamper and zen. She is freshly graduated from Aalto University where she studied visual communication design and found her love for 3d-graphics.
Aliina describes the work done for Post Bar: My favourite time of the year is fall, because for me it is the season of boots. This poster illustrates a collection of pamper boots, too dreamy to be true.
Artist of the month
Leo Karhunen
Leo Karhunen drifted into graphic design in the late 90’s. One party flyer led to another, and he found he can make a living in design. Since then Leo has created concepts and campaigns, art directed a magazine, designed a load of identities, started a record company, toured with M.I.A., hosted two weekly radio shows and designed a hundred t-shirt graphics. Today he runs his own company Double Happiness, with an emphasis on cultural clients.
Leo describes the work done for Post Bar: Well, it’s pretty self-explanatory : )
Artist of the month
Maria Korkeila
Maria Korkeila is a Finnish designer and DJ, currently based in Paris. Korkeila’s field of expression is fluid: flowing in, out and in between fashion, music and photography, she proposes a vision that stretches beyond the binary. Following the culture and traditions of punk, deconstruction and DIY, rich textures and hand-worked textiles meet an abundance of color in a coalescence of deviance and sensuality.
Maria describes the work done for Post Bar: Trajectories of dancing bodies on a dimly lit dancefloor. I love people watching at clubs. I keep a mental archive of friend’s go-to dance moves. Seeing a familiar moves silhouetted in front of me on the dancefloor makes me feel at home.
Artist of the month
Maisa Immonen
Maisa Immonen is a Helsinki-based 3D-artist and visualist, who also creates Instagram filters. In her art she creates characters and scenarios, through which she explores emotions and identities. Her interests include the thematics of shame and self-assurance and how these are associated with the representation of self and performativeness. Maisa draws inspiration from vibrant colors and organic textures. She uses 3D-technology to illustrate the shapes and forms that are created by the uncontrollable force of nature.
Maisa describes the work done for Post Bar: “I love the festive atmosphere of December and the gemstone colors. The year is coming to an end and it’s time to welcome the new year. We’ll see what’s waiting behind the curtain…”