Born 1951 in Oulu, Finland. Lives in Souillac, FR.
In the painting Nulla succede per caso (Nothing happens by chance) Hannu Väisänen elaborates on a visual style that has characterised his work for some time. Inspired by the Roman philosopher Lucretius’s book De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), in which he establishes the main principles of the atomic universe, Väisänen has meticulously constructed an enormous field of countless small, painted spheres that together form a dense, strange surface. Taking the Italian expression as his motto, he initially let the pattern in these works develop randomly, so any similarities the final shapes may have with existing objects have arisen unconsciously. The exceedingly time-consuming work on a large painting has been documented continuously and is shown as a projection on the canvas, animating the otherwise entirely two-dimensional pictorial surface and conveying a slightly vibrating sensation. In addition to being active as a painter and graphic artist, Väisänen has also been acclaimed for his ability to lend colour, volume and depth to words: in 2007, he was awarded Finland’s most prestigious literary prize, the Finlandia Prize, for his second autobiographical novel, Toiset kengät (The Other Shoes).
Education
1970–74 School of the Finnish Fine Arts (The Academy of Fine Arts?), Helsinki, FI
Selected bibliography
Martti Anhava: Crispbread written, crispbread drawn, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki, 2007
Soila Lehtonen: Besotted with colour, Book of Finland, Helsinki, 2006
Silja Rantanen: “I Sing”, Hannu Väisänen, Sara Hildèn Art Museum, Tampere, 2000