VV-Machine

Veera Vartiainen (VV-Machine) is a digital designer and an artist focusing on the fun side of internet and next step in creation. VV-Machine is can produce diverse concept and visual designs that correlate with the customer’s needs and tickle their sense of aestetics and vision. On top of her work as a digital designer she does variety of different art and creative projects from digital art to repurposed statues. Her experience in both fields has enabled her to use creativity for design while being fully aware of the distinction between the two intertwining their elements when necessary.

Her work, in both design and art, is greatly influenced by her travels over the past decade. She has built a solid professional ground whilst on road and her travels has made a mark on her work. The realisations that occur while observing and reflecting on other cultures has made her more aware of hidden attitudes and beliefs that dictate our actions. Stereotypes, world views, and cultures are a starting point in many of her art pieces and her work often explores the hidden that lingers beneath the surface.

Skills

In Co-operation

Vector Meditation Vector Art on Repurposed Surfaces

2016 - ongoing

Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
600dpi Vector print
Laser Cut
Vinyl Print
Resin-coating and mounting by hand

The scalable and modular art series "Vector Meditation" is a vector based surreal imagery. The series expands from high quality vector art prints (600dpi), on museum-quality paper or resin-coated and mounted by hand on repurposed surfaces, to lasercut design, animation, vinyl printing and street art.

Artist Statement

"My project Vector Meditation explores the organic aspects of technological creation and how it can be expressed with images. I start with drawings of surreal visualisations and they evolve into little doodles that simulate my awakened daydreaming. Is my permanent interest that drawings and graphics always can grow into something else through my very intuitive process of digitalisation, as well as mixing and matching different forms, textures and surfaces. Is important that different levels of detail might create own meaning for the beholder, like whimsical interpretations of mundane daily concerns. In the end, I wish to make evident a clash of opposites which rule our universe, such as entropy and harmony, order and disorder, calm and chaos,

The series has been inspired by a myriad of influences from different indigenous cultures and first nations symbologies, storytelling and myths. My imagery goes against the current interpretations of the world centred on a single unified rational discourse. On the contrary, it tries to open the doors of psychedelic aesthetics, to describe and envision the multilayered connections to the spiritual side of nature within the complex network of reality. Every image pretends to go beyond the veil of the physical realm and evidence the underlying energy that courses through all living entities.

Based on my experimentation with colours I can conclude that merging analogue methods alongside with digital production enables a new scalable lifespan of images, instead of a freezing moment. As result certain representations, shapes or images don’t finish in one piece, there are no limitations of copying and pasting since it’s enabled and embraced by a technique of replication and simulation linked in a continous blurry zone of transfer.

Totem with Two Hands

Ever reforming and and exchangeable Totem with Two Hands was created based on imagery of Vector Meditation, and had it's first display at Spacetime stage of Kosmos Festival 2023. Repurposed plywood pieces are hand coated and mounted with Ecopoxy resin. The art piece is designed to be hanged in site-specific manner, and works two-sided or as one-sided. Totem of Two Hands has been also exhibited in Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023, Yö Galleria and Galleria Saltbodan.

Kosmos Festival 2023

Two sided installation around a pole holding a projector.

Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023

Two sided installation hanging from the roof.

Two handed Totem Galleria Kunsthaus Jägermeister

Yö Galleria 2023

One sided, dolphin inspired, installation for a white gallery wall.

Galleria Saltbodan 2023

One sided installation for traditional finnish barnhouse turned in to a gallery.

Exhibitions

Asbestos Art Space 2024, Helsinki, solo exhibition
Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023, Helsinki, group exhibition & residency
Kosmos Festival 2023, Ristiina, festival decoration
Galleria Saltbodan, Loviisa, joint exhibition with Mark Maher
Yö Kekri (Yö Galleria) 2023, Helsinki, group exhibition
Yö Fest 3 (Yö Galleria) 2023, Helsinki, group exhibition
Myyrmäen Katutaidetriannaali 2021, Vantaa, street art triennale

Forever isn't endless after all (1st edition)

Yö Fest 3 (Yö Galleria) 2023, 152 cm x 120cm

Forever isn't endless after all (2nd edition)

Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023, 81cm x 64cm

Tripolarity (1st Edition)

Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023, 130cm x 100cm

Eaglelity (1st Edition)

Rumarstrand, 75cm x 75cm

Originating (1st edition)

Galleria Saltbodan, 80cm x 85cm

Project supported by:

Thank you for not Toxic Wasting Sculpture out of Locally Recycled Materials

2021

Sculpture
Recycled materials

S.A.V (Street Art Vantaa) invited VV-machine to be a part of Myyrmäen Katutaidetriannaali 2021 Street Art Festival organised in Myyrmäki Vantaa. The new event will be held once in every three years and the first editions theme was the temporary existance of street art and ecological methods of creating it.

Thank You For Not Toxic Wasting is created out of cigarette stumps of Myyrmäki. Cigarette butts are one of the most littered items in the world and a main source of sea and ocean pollution. Being a fairly easy change of habit to not throw it on the ground after smoking or to pick up someone elses cigarette butt, Thank You For Not Toxic Wasting is politely reminding people to do so.

"If every single one of us would collect up to ten cigarette butts a day, how many days would it take to have none?""

Photo by Jesse Paananen

Thank You For Not Toxic Wasting recycled sculpture Jesse Paananen Photography

Exhibitions

Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023, Helsinki, group exhibition & residency
Yö Fest 3 (Yö Galleria) 2023, Helsinki, group exhibition
Myyrmäen Katutaidetriannaali 2021, Vantaa, street art triennale

Yö fest 3

Photo by Tomas Orlowicz.

Kunsthaus Jägermeister 2023

Photo by Kunsthaus Jägermeister.

Kontula Electronic X Stoa Stage Design & Production

2023

Art Direction
Stage Design

Culture House of Stoa invited Kontula Electronic to organise an event for alternative electronic music and performances at their location in Itäkeskus at 16.12.2023. Four different stages held different local and humouristic themes derived from the culture of Kontula Mall, East Helsinki and current electronical/online underground culture.

The Miami Mopo stage was designed together with Börje Hiltunen and Jani Hietanen (VJ Visumanni. The Stage design honoured the sculpture 'Stoa' by Hannu Siren and the Monolith Phenomenon in december 2020.

Monoliths of Stoa

Visualisation by Visumanni

Visumanni created visulisations with Touch Designer.

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT VV-machine x S.A.V

Street Art Exhibition 2021

Street art
Sticker
QR-code

S.A.V (Street Art Vantaa) invited VV-machine to be a part of Myyrmäen Katutaidetriannaali 2021, Street Art Festival organised in Myyrmäki Vantaa. The new event will be held once in every three years and the first editions theme was the temporary existance of street art and ecological methods of creating it.

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT comments on the exclusivity and consumption of electricity of the new concept shaking the art world - NFT. Despite questioning the way of copyright and the value of digital art, NFT's creative, ecological and moral values seem to have sinken on the level of basic stock broker and it has become a battle field of likes, shares, right click save hacks and proof of work. The beautiful ideals which made the abstract world of NFT's so tempting for creators in the first place has faded away with all this marketing fluff.

Project Description:

QRFT-gallery is here to enable the new way of contributing digital art tokens for all, regardless of economical background or technical skillset. By scanning the special code you get to enjoy the greatest and the latest of what is happening in the minds of today: with all the remixing, clicking, caching and flocking there will be some sort of love left.

QRFT Artist List

QRFT codes

Printed minimum 35cm x 35cm size, the colourful QRFT codes will stand out in normal street view. The size and colours differs from normal way of using QR-code, since the code is typically being printed as small without colours or design.

QRFT map

A Map instructing how to find QRFT codes around the Myyrinpuho Shopping Mall and how to scan the code with an Android or Iphone.

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Map Street Art

QRFTs in place

QRFTs placed around Myyrinpuhos Shopping Mall and decorated with some help with local graffiti artists

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Smutzig Robot

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Britney Spears

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Marianne Kurki

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Shaman Creative

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Kamilla Sladowska

QRFT Gallery - Poormans NFT Krista Eveli

Visio Festival Charcoal Portraits

2022

Portrait drawing
Charcoal

Hand drawn charcoal portraits of dj's and musicians for Visio Festival 2022. The artwork was used as festival décor and in social media advertising. Charcoal was chosen as the drawing medium in order to honour the festival venues history in the industrial age.

Visio Festival 2022 Charcoal portrait of Cool DJ Pinball by VV-machine

Visio Festival 2022 Charcoal portrait of LTJ Bukem by VV-machine

Break Them All Visualisation and consept for Private Function

Visualization was created for a private function for a record label in Barcelona. The event was a celebration for the new release of the label so the visual look was designed the music in mind. The concept was about the changing faces of hard core, unconventional existing, and having a blast in the dark. The character created for the project worked as a shuttle to some serious freedom and fun. The black or the black and white sticker was designed with a space in the middle for a hand written phone number. The sticker doubled as an entrance ticket and a lottery ticket.

Flyer

Charachter was desinged in co-operation with clients

Animated loop for Projection

VV-machine animated loop indigenous masks masks

The animated loop was created using Adobe After Effects and Photoshop and free stock imagery of indigenous masks.

Lottery ticket for a rally

One coloured version of the character for printed stickers.

Story Maps Australia Animation, Concept and Graphic Design

2015

Shaman Creative received money for R&D from the Prime Minister‘s cabinet of Australia for designing a digital narration of Indigenous Australian Dreamtime worldview.

A User Interface was built for the project and an overall graphic look was designed for the Story Maps. In addition to the visual look, a brand identity was planned based on Modular Logo Concept combined with traditional Australian Indigenous Cartography and Symbology. The project also involved designing creating a narrative interactive 2D animation concept. Cartographic Design was made using Mapbox API.

Animation with After Effects

Story Maps Australia Rainbow Serpent animation

Rainbow serpent, a life giving deity, is a common motif amongst Astralian Indigenous art. The story of the Rainbow serpent is essential amongst the Australian Aboriginal peoples and is important in the Dreamtime worldview. The serpent is viewed as a giver of life but is also a destructive force once angered.

Story Maps Australia Flora and Fauna animation

Indigenous Australian spirituality is totemic where a plant or an animal can act as a spiritual emblem. A big part of that spirituality is a connection to nature and the connectedness between the past, present, and future which creates a system that is used for navigation, health care, and nutrition.

The Dreamtime worldview is manifested in everyday life through sacred and ancient places and tools that are known to Indigenous Australian peoples through generations. These places and tools are a fundamental part of the Dreamtime worldview. The man in the middle of the map represents an elder, or a sort of shaman, that is highly respected in the community and represents the flow of knowledge that passes through generations.

Modular Logo

The logo for the Story Maps Australia –project combines feet symbol with a modern speech bubble. The design is meant to communicate between the new and the old world view.

Iconography

The Iconography is based on Indigenous Australian Symbology and Cartography. Hand drawn style of the Icons is to bring them closer to sand art, wood carving, cave painting and other traditional forms of Indigenous Australian Art.

Map Design with Mapbox Studio

Map Topography is created with Mapbox API, a JavaScript library for vector maps on the web.

Map Markers based on the Modular Logo

Modularity of the Logo allows to create custom Map Markers in a form a speech bubble. The content of a Map Marker can be a photo, a symbol or text.

Seam Studios Lottie Animation, Visual Concept and Graphic Guidelines

Seam Project Studios is a creative digital agency based in Barcelona. When joining the company in 2019 VV-Machine planned a visual concept design for the company and designed its graphic guidelines. The work included a 2D animation that was done with Lottie framework, which creates lightweight scalable Vector Animation based on JSON with After Effects. Graphic Concept and Logo Design was done within the guidelines of the company’s desired look in mind. The theme for this work was narrowed down to three clear concepts: clean glitch, retro tech, and futuristic. Prototyping was created using Figma.

Lottie Animation: Write in Glitch

Companys slogan written in glitch with grey gradient background. Used as a intro of a website.

Motion Graphics Concept: Clean Glitch

The Motion Graphics Concept is Clean Glitch, which can be also used as still graphic. With different shapes and colours the glitches can be used in a infographic sense.

Visual Concept and Graphic Guidelines

Logotype + Logomark

The starting point for the Logo was the letter S, which combines together Space Anarchist Zine - culture and clean and appropriate looking Sans Serif font. The contrast of the two is strong and creates the unique look of the logo.

Typography

Lato Regular + Black Typescale1.33 (Perfect Fourth) Example text: Based in Barcelona, we provide digital solutions for organisations, companies and individuals. We involve our clients at all stages of the process so there are no surprises or hidden costs, everything is upfront and honest.

Colours

Gradient

Jaadoo Design Wordpress with Woocommerce & Digital Brand Development for Artist

Jaadoo Design is a unique Festival wear fashion brand based on upcycled materials and dead stock, and the designer also paints and creates wearable art-accessories. The website, brand identity and graphical assets is designed and drawn together with Jaadoo Design creator. Website Maintanance (including manuals), Graphic Design and Content creation workshops were composed to make the client as independent as possible. Graphical material was produced to be utilized also in the clothing production.

Wordpress and Woocommerce

Woocommerce and Storefront-theme was chosen for easy and cheap maintanance costs. The ecommerce was build with artistic creation in mind and per customer's wishes there are many possible product-types and categories, which can be hidden or displayed according current needs.

Logo with a Cat Skull

Cat Skull with particular flowers and mushrooms drawn according to the clients model.

Seamless Shipibo pattern

Seamless pattern drawn according the traditional Shipibo pattern of indigenous Amazonian culture.

Typography & Colours

Typography

Cardo Typescale:1.55 Example text: Categories: Clothes, Women
Tags: bohemian dress, boho style, casual chic, fastival fashion, gypsy style, hand-made, sustainable fashion, tribal, unique clothing

Colours

Gradients

Storybook of Franklinford Custom Wordpress Theme, Interactive animation and Visual Design

2016

Storybook of Franklinford is web based Flipbook developed with Wordpress. The project involved developing the frontend, creating the required 2D animations and designing the graphics with traditional press style combined with Storybook's magic.

Animated Flipbook Wordpress Theme with Candlelight

The Animated interface was constructed as Custom Wordpress Theme. The Flipbook Interactive Animation is developed with CSS3 transitions and jQuery.

2d Write in Animation with After Effects

The website’s intro, a Write-In Typografic Animation, is created with After Effects. The animated stars and bling brings magic and vividness to otherwise quite traditional typeface.

Storybook of Franklinford Typography Write in Animation Motion Graphics

Loading animation

Visual Design

Storybook of Franklinford has a comprehensive graphical concept, logo design, icons, drop caps, and text captions.

Starstruck Logo

Typografic Logo combines the font Starstruck with magical twirls/cluster of stars.

Antique Icons

Iconography of Storybook Franklinford is traditional and displays modern concepts like email, mp3 or video with antique versions and traditional symbology.

Storybook of Franklinford Icon Heart Iconography

Storybook of Franklinford Icon Film Iconography

Storybook of Franklinford Icon Music Iconography

Storybook of Franklinford Icon Mail Iconography

Dropcaps

Different medievel styled colourful Dropcap start every chapter.

Storybook of Franklinford Dropcap I Typography

Storybook of Franklinford Dropcap X Typography

Storybook of Franklinford Dropcap O Typography

Storybook of Franklinford Dropcap U Typography

Storybook of Franklinford Dropcap B Typography

Captionboxes

(Lyrics by Las Ketchup)

Scalable Caption Boxes designed to match with the Colourful Dropcaps.

Walmu Frontend development, brand illustrations, iconography and web layouts

2020-2022

Frontend development

Accessible and mobile-friendly frontend development for Content Managment system (CMS) for employment offices.

Brand Illustrations

Creating a scalable, colorful, easy to approach and positive-vibed vector based brand illustrations with a theme: Data in a society.

Iconography

Icons for accessibility and usability of the web app

Web Layout

Mobile friendly Web Layout for Wordpress Elementor Theme.

Cadpool Course Scedules Visual Concept and Graphic Guidelines

Cadpool course schedule is the company’s course schedule for each year that is sent out to company’s partners annually. They are designed to fit and expand the company’s already existing graphic look.

Cadpool Course Schedule 2019

The theme for the visual concept was the Scandinavian sense of simplicity and minimalism combined with light and snow. The design was created with images from Autodesk Gallery.

Cadpool Course Schedule 2018-2019 print design brochure cover

Cadpool Course Schedule 2018-2019 print design brochure inside

Cadpool Course Schedule 2016

The theme for the visual concept was inspired by the aesthetics of circuit boards, blueprints and gadgets.

Cadpool Course Schedule 2016-2017 print design brochure inside

Gourmet Goons Animated 2.5D Short

2014

Animated 2.5D short that was created for an opening of a travel cooking show in Australia. The short was based on still photos of the cooking show and created as a 2.5D animation using After Effect.

Animation, Logo and Icon Design