Sami Lukkarinen 18.2.-6.3. 2005

Curriculum Vitae (.pdf)

Hot or Not?

Hot or Not? is a series of painting of Finns who have uploaded pictures of themselves to Internet service sites for criticism. These sites contain hundreds of thousand of images, which in an honest and interesting fashion reveal how people see and wish to present themselves. In other words, the paintings are akin to portraits of individuals' images that have become public through the Internet. The exhibition also contains my first ever self-portrait.

In my art, I examine the relationship between digital image and painting. I believe digital images offer remarkable new opportunities to the art of painting. I use Photoshop image editing software to edit the images I have selected. I reduce the amount of information contained in the images, thus increasing the size of the pixels and bringing out more clearly the colour information. The final painting is created on either canvas or acrylic sheet on the basis of the edited images. I paint each pixel separately and seek to replicate the colour tones of the digital images as faithfully as possible. The materiality and slowness of painting provide a stark contrast to the swiftness, infinite number and lightness of the digital image.

I have been using digital images as a starting point for my paintings since 1999. Earlier projects have involved trains covered in graffiti, modern architecture and spam, the scourge of email.

Sami Lukkarinen

 

BUUZIGIRL
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on acrylic glass
124 x 106 cm

 

JASU 69
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on canvas
138 x 171 cm

 

LAURA
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
93 x 75 cm

 

LAURA
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
93 x 72 cm

 

LAURA
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
105 x 84 cm

LAURA
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
93 x 75 cm

 

NING (Thai Bride)
from series Junk Mail, 2004
oil on canvas
182 x 100 cm

 

TUEN (Thai Bride)
from series Junk Mail, 2004
oil on canvas
165 x 120 cm

OMAKUVA
from series Hot or Not?, 2005
oil on acrylic glass
106 x 100 cm

 

PIKKU PANTA
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on acrylic glass
106 x 116 cm

RUSSIAN BRIDE 2
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
129 x 38 cm

RUSSIAN BRIDE 1
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
76 x 100 cm

RUSSIAN BRIDE 3
from series Junk Mail, 2003
oil on acrylic glass
78 x 51 cm

s4Ra
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on acrylic glass
84 x 63 cm

SPORTTIPETE
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on canvas
180 x 98 cm

SUPERCAT
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on canvas
170 x 93 cm

BOOBYTRAP
from series Hot or Not?, 2004
oil on canvas
130 x 110 cm

Enlarge by clicking the image. Press images are available at the gallery.