Sami Lukkarinen’s art is based on pictures he finds from the internet, pixelates and then paints with oil colors. The exceptional and detailed surface texture, particular understanding of colors and an organized composition create a foundation to these contemporary works bordering on impressionism.
Lukkarinen edits the original images, intensifying the colors and transforming the source into a physically tangible, painterly surface. The motifs are primarily people; either portraits constructed of well-known figures or selfie images, emphasizing their forthcoming gestures and expressions. The works are painted with thick layers of colors, carefully applied with palette knives so that each hue is gradually built up, replicating each tonal nuance and the enlarged pixel of the original picture as a unified material rhythm.
Lukkarinen’s works examine today’s visual culture, which exposes us all to an abundance of imagery and reshapes the traditional concept of portraiture through the excess, characteristic of the selfie era. At the same time, the pictorial landscape remains soft, almost tangibly creamy. Through the thick layer of paint, Lukkarinen transforms the pose of a randomly selected image into a blurred portrait imbued with echoes of Renaissance chiaroscuro, a play of light and shadow, and a sense of quiet intimacy. The surface structure, together with a precise understanding of color and rhythm, creates a cohesive whole that balances the relationship between materiality and image, merging the tactile quality of painting with the aesthetics of the digital source image. The paintings ultimately invite viewers to reconsider how contemporary images are consumed, remembered and emotionally experienced in an era saturated by visual information.
Lukkarinen has graduated from the Department of Media Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. He has exhibited at e.g. Instituto Iberoamericano de Finlandia, Madrid, Spain, Kunsthalle in Turku, Finland, and Finlandsinstitutets galleri in Stockholm, Sweden. His works are in the Microsoft Art Collection, Absolut Art Collection, Finnish State Art Collection, Wäinö Aaltonen Art Museum, Saastamoinen Foundation and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, among others.