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Finnish artist Mari Kasurinen’s Hollywood-inspired transformations of My Little Pony figures have drawn international attention. The best art is often subversive, the kind of work that takes the ordinary or banal and transforms it into something unique or unexpected. Even better is when you see an object that was once something you considered grotesque, altered to represent something worthy of acclamation, or even desire. Such was the feeling when I first saw Mari Kasuri-
nen’s iconoclastic My Little Pony makeovers. Taking the well known toy for young girls and turning the figurines into pastiches of famous Hollywood characters was an inspired idea, as you'll see from the pictures above. Transforming popular culture Kasurinen was born in Mikkeli, lives and works in Lahti, and explains her influences as coming from her childhood. “I loved drawing ponies and He-Man characters as a kid,” she told me, “and I wanted to be an artist from an early age. Me ending up doing this kind of art was the sum of many things. I have always been interested in Pop Art and popular culture. I was looking for a way to express myself concerning today's materialism and individualism, and was very interested in the whole customisation phenomenon; how you can get anything done just for you. I had a great urge to modify, to transform something.” This desire to change the banal into the special is easily understandable in today’s world of identikit everything. As individuals, we are unique, but we easily align ourselves with certain groups, fashions or styles; and pop culture is perhaps the primary way in which we do this. As a child, we all wanted the same toys as our friends. But why do My Little Ponys fit the bill so well? “First I tried Barbie, Action Man, He-Man, tin soldiers, plastic animals, but they didn't work. Then I remembered the My Little Pony, which my Batman figure used to ride around on in my childhood. It was pink and perfect! My Little Ponys are so plain; some plastic and fake hair. They didn't have a gender and the fact that I could transform a human character into pony form was really exciting.” Clearly, when it comes to art, androgyny can be beneficial. Kasurinen continues, “It didn't set any boundaries. I was free to explore pop icons the way I wanted to: how they are born? What kind of feelings do they cause in us? What kinds of features are needed to be recognised? What makes Batman, Batman? When does the border between human and animal start to fade?” Clearly, in the case of My Little Chewbacca it’s not certain that it fades at all. Mind you, Chewie is not alone – Kasurinen has faithfully represented many of the major Star Wars characters as equine subjects. The My Little Han Solo in Carbonite figure is a particularly poignant imitation. “I could talk for hours and hours about Star Wars. To make a long story short, I love the original trilogy,” she says. This is good news, but hopefully she'll steer clear of the more recent heretical characters? “Ha ha! I think I'm too scared to make a My Little Jar Jar. It would cause huge riots all around the world because everyone would desperately want to have it! For what reasons, I dare not think.” 
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International attention Kasurinen says that she prefers to take icons from her childhood as subjects. “Movies, cartoons and comics naturally dominate my work,” she says. The average price for one of Kasurinen’s ponies is around 300 euros, depending on complexity, and each piece takes from six to fifteen hours to complete. She currently has over twenty commissions and a few art exhibitions on the way. With a good idea comes fame however, and Kasurinen is busy spending hours each day answering emails from websites, magazines and newspapers since her work was featured on digg.com a few months ago. “To be well known is quite necessary when you try to support yourself as an artist. I don't mind at all if people remember me as ‘the pony artist’. My other works, which are mostly paintings and art graphics, get attention too.” Both The Guardian and The Sun newspapers in the UK have ran stories on her, and even Lucasfilm have been in touch, requesting an interview for the official Star Wars website. It is hard work, says Kasurinen, but she enjoys it. “As long as there is enough time to rest, I won't complain. After all, this is a wonderful opportunity,” she says. www.marikasurinen.com NICK BARLOW - HT
MARI KASURINEN
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