Born 1989 | Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland
Erno Pennanen is a Helsinki-based artist, who in his expressive paintings addresses what it means to be human in our time. For Pennanen painting consists of a combination of lines and colour fields, in which chance and the properties of the paint have their own visible place. Pennanen says: “For a long time, the characters in the works served solely as still lifes, as it were, stripped of their human qualities. This helped me to develop and simplify a painted impression that better served the subjects.”
The artist, who has previously re-conceptualized photographs by means of painting, has now shifted toward observational painting. The new works are created in natural environment or based on observations made in the studio with a live model. Through this new approach, Pennanen aims to transcend the limitations of photography and improve hand-eye coordination. Simultaneously, the paintings capture a sense of movement that is absent in photographs. Pennanen’s artworks usually take their starting point in people close to him. It is difficult for a painter to sideline their own view of what they are depicting, but for him it is precisely the friction between subjective and objective modes of depiction that makes the subject of the painting interesting.
For Pennanen movement is an important element, and this can be seen in his relaxed, undulating brushwork. The static postures and somewhat gloomy expressions of his reductive figures, as well as the muted tones of his works, are reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s (b. 1863) psychological portraits. Erno Pennanen graduated with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, in June 2023. He lives and works in Helsinki, and his art is in private collections, as well as the Finnish National Gallery’s collection.
