Einari Hyvönen’s post-digital artworks are marked by the contrast between their light, happy visual motifs and gloomy content. But tragicomic humour makes it easier to cope with even difficult issues, such as the ending of a relationship, the loss of a loved one, or environmental catastrophe. “I present these subjects and images in ways that are intended to help viewers to overcome shame by dealing with them through laughter, and to remember that everyone else goes through similar grief at some point in their lives,” he says.
Hyvönen manages to present even dark experiences in a new way without diminishing them yet transforming the way we encounter them. Humour curves around sorrow; lightness brushes against fear. Through these tensions, a new kind of clarity emerges – one that recognizes the weight of what has been lived but resists the heaviness that can silence. In the paintings, the surfaces resemble plastic and foil – glossy, fragile, and appealingly artificial – blending with organic forms and creating a tension between the natural and the synthetic. The visual language is deliberately layered and provocative. Recognizable, partly exaggerated figures – both mythical and drawn from popular culture – lure the viewer closer and act as gateways to more complex questions about power, responsibility and the possibility of change. Symbols such as the Doomsday Clock’s hand nearing midnight or the family tree address vulnerability and the potential for renewal at the same time.
‘Mushroom Season’ lingers in the space between destruction and renewal – where the organic and the artificial, the traditional and the digital intertwine like a living network. The works trace moments of transformation – gentle and violent, continuous and fleeting. Hyvönen uses references to popular culture to make his art more accessible, while, at the same time, prioritising artistic value and skill. The sketch phase is done with 3D modelling and image-editing software, and the resultant nostalgic digital images juxtaposed with traditional painting deliberately create an odd, skewed atmosphere.
Hyvönen gained his Master’s degree from the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki in 2021 and has since taken part in solo and collective exhibitions in Finland and further afield in Europe. Hyvönen’s art is in the collections of the Finnish State, Kiasma, Oulu and Tampere Art Museums, and elsewhere.