Janne Laine is a visual artist known for photo-based gravure graphics. In the works with a strong mood, you move in the middle ground between being and dreaming. Landscapes surrounded by fog are real experiences of a place and a moment depicted in a real situation. Processing the images into graphic prints opens up possibilities for interpretation, where fantasy becomes part of the reality of the work.

Laine’s works have taken on darker tones as concern about the state of the world has grown. Although people are rarely seen in the works, people are present in them. Built elements can be seen in the landscape. On the other hand, the entire landscape is conceptually subordinate to the human gaze: nature turns into a landscape when the artist delineates it into a picture.

Janne Laine has photographed material for his works in different parts of the world. His breakthrough works already featured steam from hot springs in Iceland. In addition to Iceland, the new works have been created in Nepal, Lofoten and Peru. Although Laine finds the subjects of his works and describes them on his travels, the end result nevertheless leads to a kind of universal initial image. It could be a picture of the beginning or end of the world. It is something that is not easily recognizable, but is still familiar. The works are strongly related to the landscape paintings of the Romantic era. Although they visually speak a different language, they are united by the same yearning and longing.

Black and gray, sepia and the white tones of the paper are the predominant color scheme of many of Laine’s works. The moods of classic graphic art and black-and-white photography meet in the elegant overall look of the works. In recent years, however, colors have crept into the works more and more often. The glowing tones bring out an almost surreal sky or a meadow bathed in the sun. Colored works are often more observations of moments than a deep dive into a universal landscape. That’s why they balance different exhibition ensembles nicely. They sometimes return the viewer to the concrete, so that the journey to the source of the landscape does not become too difficult.

The works are serial, which is part of the basic democratic nature of printmaking. The same work can be in several different places at the same time. Laine sometimes makes unique works, sometimes makes different versions of the same work, but as a rule the works are a classic edition, sometimes bigger and sometimes smaller. Laine also makes her works into picture series, where the picture is either divided into several parts or the picture develops like stills from a movie.

Janne Laine is one of Finland’s most internationally successful artists. He has won numerous awards and his works have been exhibited on all continents. In Finland, his retrospective was seen at the Tampere Art Museum in 2015 and he won Posti’s art prize and his works were made into a series of stamps in 2020. In the same year, his 50th anniversary exhibition was seen in two parts at Galleria Halmetoja and Galleria Duetto in Helsinki.

Veikko Halmetoja

Janne Laine (b. 1970 works and lives in Mänttä) has photographed landscapes for over twenty years. He has the ability to present the landscape as a subject, which does not require speculation about the original location or assessment of its authenticity. They are universal images where the landscape is shrouded in the unknown.

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