By Annette Hinkle
Virva Hinnemo (b. 1976), an artist in the Parrish exhibition “Affinities for Abstraction,” was born in Finland and now lives and works in Springs.
Q: As a female Abstract painter, did you face hurdles in what was initially a very male-dominated field?
I think this is a difficult question to answer. Yes, in some ways, the issue of being a woman painter has always been “there” for me. In school, the boys/men muscled their way. Many women students found a way to turn their womanhood into their artistic subject. I never wanted to hit the viewer over the head with that kind of a subject. I ask a lot from those who look at my work. My husband would call it “the long, slow look.”
I was always aware that I had stepped into a male-dominated world, and as a very young painter, I was conscious of not wanting to “paint like a girl.” A young painter does think some silly things: “Why can’t I paint like Guston? I don’t want my work to be pretty.”