SPOTLIGHT: JANNE PARVIAINEN

Photographer and painter Janne Parviainen hails from Helsinki, Finland. He is one of the most widely recognised light-painting artists, with work featured in numerous publications: National Geographic, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, Wired, Juxtapoz, Spiegel Online, The Metro and Yahoo News. Janne has also worked for commercial campaigns with Adobe Systems Inc., Olight, and Nippon Television.

Janne has also participated in exhibitions, light installations, light art workshops, performances, music videos and commercial work as a solo artist, and with the Finnish art collective Valopaja.

Urbane Art Gallery is currently the only gallery to represent him worldwide. In 2015 he was selected by the UNESCO to represent the 'Year of Light' to celebrate this event, the gallery organised an exhibition and artist talk which was supported by Retina, the International Scottish Photography Festival and the Dundee International Science Festival.

Janne uses coloured strobes, flashlights, and other sources of light to create these beautiful and unique paintings of skeletons and ‘light creatures’. He also has over 17 years of experience as a painter in the more traditional mediums, and maintains a recognisable aesthetic that combines oils with metal leaf and permanent marker on the glass of old windows.

The theme of abandoned objects and places runs consistently throughout Janne’s work, which are both evocative and psychological. Though he paints with light, the eerie sense of darkness and abandonment pervades throughout much of his work. That said, there is much to admire about it. Janne will sometimes spend hours exposing a single image, in order to create the intricate details and compositions that particularly define his photographic work. His use of colour is also notable; since everything contrasts against the dark background within which it is photographed, the fiery reds and ethereal blues are suggestive and expressive.

Following in this urban tradition, Janne’s paintings focus heavily on street art found in and around Helsinki. He paints with oil in the same way he does with light; a free and expressive hand guides the medium around the glass of reclaimed windows, to create striking and vivid pieces of work.

Janne’s pieces, most notably his photography, present the viewer with emotive psychological themes that serve to reflect the ominous mystique of the neglected buildings and objects around which the majority of his work is focused. Light embellishes the dark space with form and colour, creating a visual dichotomy that is at once almost supernatural, and slightly chilling.

Prices start at £395. Why not test one of our pieces out out on our 'view in a room' option? Our partnership with Own Art would also allow you to take away a piece of artwork on the day, but spread the cost of purchase over ten months at 0% APR.