Hannu Väisänen: Derrière les portes

Hannu Väisänen's works often engage with everyday objects and phenomena, translating their details and characteristics into the language of painting. The artist works in series, dwelling on the same theme for extended periods.

The new series began with a watercolour sketch made in India in 1996, depicting a Rajasthani door with decorated frames and prayer flags. When this sketch caught Väisänen's eye again recently, he recalled the heat and glowing colours - and began developing a new painting series about doors and gates. In this series, Väisänen investigates the interaction of colours, the door's rectangular form, and its simultaneously abstract and figurative nature. Though the subject is doors, he aims to avoid spatial illusion and return the painting to the picture plane.

Hannu Väisänen (born 1951) works as a visual artist, writer, set designer, costume designer, director, and illustrator. His works are held in several Finnish public collections, and he has created public artworks. Väisänen has won the state art prize, the Finlandia literary prize in 2007, and the state literary prize in 2015.

Galerie Forsblom
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