The theme of the Tintarella di Luna works are pastiches of Renaissance gardens. I painted the watercolors at the Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation’s residence in Grassina, Italy, in the spring of 2022. During the residence period, I familiarized myself with the Renaissance gardens of Tuscany, which reflect the groundbreaking concept of a comprehensive artwork in Renaissance philosophy. The built environment, formal gardens and surrounding wild nature were seen as an entity on which designers placed a great deal of importance.

The name “Tintarella di Luna” also refers to the singer Mina, an Italian superstar from the past decades. The song is about a woman who – unlike all the other women – does not spend her days tanning herself, but instead climbs up on the roof at night to enjoy the moonbeams, moon tanning. It is a sort of an allegory of an artistic attitude – an attempt to do and see things differently, in a new way. As a character, Mina also turned out to be a pioneer, breaking down deep-rooted attitudes. In other words, I painted Renaissance impressions boosted by Italian pop music from the 1950s to the 1970s. Just like the watercolors, my work process was a sort of pastiche – a unique mixture of various impressions.