Pink Cloud, 2019, mixed media on canvas, 81 x 80cm
The 2021 spring season in Galerie Anhava starts with Jani Hänninen’s (b. 1974) solo exhibition Odd One Out. Hänninen, whose practice is influenced by the traditions of street art and graffiti art, as well as art history and popular culture, draws his visual elements from various sources, which he assembles on the surface of his paintings intuitively, guided by his experienced eye. Hänninen’s recent works are put together in a collage-like fashion, the colour palette is extensive, and bright, vibrant fields of colour are complemented by soft, broken hues.
Hänninen’s latest works are based on his sketch books, which are filled to the brim with pencil drawings. Hänninen is interested in the straightforward ease of expression of the minuscule drawings, which are often only a couple of centimetres in size. In addition to oil and acrylic, Hänninen makes use of a variety of techniques, including oil pastel, spray paint, and lino printing. Occasionally, Hänninen may take a scan of a drawing from his sketch book and print it on a sheet of fabric. He then attaches it onto the surface of a painting and continues to draw on the scanned image. In addition to visual signs and shapes, Hänninen’s works include individual letters or short combinations of letters. These function both as linguistic cues and as autonomous visual and linguistic forms that are important to the artist.
The finished paintings are therefore characterised by layers of different techniques and content as well as the concurrent presence of contradictory themes and moods. When you examine one of Hänninen’s works, you may stop to examine a tiny detail, which is like a small window that gives you focus, or you can let your gaze glide along the multitude of paths that meander through the painting. The different logics of layering, covering, and exposing can also be regarded as reflections of the experience of becoming excluded or being in hiding. The energy of the works, their engaging characters, and abstract shapes, all contribute to a cohesive experience characterised by a sense of longing, playful levity, and furious intensity.
Jani Hänninen has studied at the Free Art School and the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 1998–2003. He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad, e.g. Dreamaholic, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen; Perfect Blue, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin, and Dark Days, Bright Nights, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City. Hänninen’s works are included in the public collections of e.g. Sara Hildén Art Museum, Malmö Art Museum, HAM, Wihuri Foundation/Rovaniemi Art Museum, Saastamoinen Foundation/EMMA, Kiasma, and the City of Tampere, as well as the collections of Lars Swanljung/Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Lars-Göran Johnsson/Turku Art Museum, Vexi Salmi/Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Iiris Ulin and Timo Miettinen/Salon Dahlmann, Päivi and Paavo Lipponen/Kiasma, and the Heino Art Foundation.
Enter Viewing room.
