Inka Mellais

About the Artist

In her practice, Inka Mellais (b. 1987, Helsinki) reflects her personal perception about humanity on philosophical and theoretical texts. Mellais does not only study these texts, but also intensively includes them in her working process and thinking. By doing that, she lets the conceptual and personal blend on the level of painting and as a performative part of the work. Mellais saves her experience from the dialogue between external perception and her own perception by drawing, writing and photographing. These saved experiences she uses as references for her paintings.

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Exhibitions

Kuvan Kevät 2026

15.5.-14.6.2026

When I’m starting a new painting process I’m thinking about the meaning of the artwork as an object and whether there’s a need to create that object. Sometimes I decide not to create anything: the pure idea seems more meaningful than the physical object. Sometimes, the idea itself feels so material that I need to give it a chance in this world as its own, separate self. When that happens, I start to chase the painting’s physical form and see if it will become something, someone. A self.

When giving a physical form to a painting, I might ask myself whether visible objects are more important to us than immaterial potential, and if so, why? I see painting, along writing, as one of the most diverse art forms: the only one holding it back is the creator herself. Why did I delimit the painting as colour, form and surface? Maybe because the idea, when reaching its delimited body, can touch us humans more closely than the infinite world of possibilities.