PEKKA LUUKKOLAPhotographs 26.11.2011 – 18.12.2011

Forest #7, 2011
pigment ink print on aluminium
80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

My photographs often tell the story of what has taken place in front of the camera during the lengthy exposure. I aim for simplification, straightforward visuality and an aesthetic experience but these form just one part of my works. In addition to looking, I want viewers to stop and think. We only see the surface of a landscape but we can imagine its depth. The camera allows us to see things imperceptible to the naked eye. We can see deep into space or catch sight of something in a forest that would otherwise pass us by.

The works in the FOREST series are straightforward landscapes depicting a variety of forests. We are all familiar with the sight of spruce, birch and mixed forests but what is their essence? When all detail dissolves and the subject becomes abstract, only the essentials, colour and shape, remain. The forest and the plants are vertical, the landscape horizontal. Growth reaches torwards light, life towards the new and the unknown. These are the forces that determine our trajectory. We can imagine the forest growing, as over decades, the trees glide towards the light.

In SOLAR INTENSITY I have sought to bring the sun into the night. Executed using a new technique, this image features the same landscape during the day and at night, captured from exactly the same position. When the landscape is made up of two time spans, night and day meet in a way that we could normally never witness. The time of day shapes the space, leaves a mark on its character. The place may be the same, but the view is entirely different. The sun's intensity is accentuated when contrasted with darkness. The time of year and the time of day determine the angle at which the rays of this giant floodlight hit the earth. The sun is an enormous and, from the human perspective, inexhaustible source of energy. But have we realised its full potential? During the day we cannot look into it and at night we cannot see it.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE EARTH series, I explore motion and the passage of time through fire and the stars. These works reveal what has happened in front of the camera during the long exposure and none of the effects are digitally enhanced. We know that someone has been present in the landscape but we cannot see them. The camera gives substance to the immaterial - here, the fleeting process of burning is made visible. Life is like a long burn. Fuel reacts with oxygen when we eat, breathe, live. Like the fire that brands a reminder of its brief existence on the landscape, so we make our small mark on our time. The life of the flame, drawn across the air, is a symbol for the twists and turns of life.

Pekka Luukkola

The artist Pekka Luukkola (b.1968 ) explores new ways of depicting landscapes and the passge of time in photography. Luukkola is one of the 2011 Ars Fennica nominees and winner of the 2008 Fotofinlandia competition. His latest exhibition forms part of his doctoral thesis on image quality at the Aalto University School of Arts and Creativity.

 
  • luukkola/2011/PEKKA_LUUKKOLA_SOLAR_INTENSITY_EDGE_2010

    Solar Intensity / Edge, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/090_solar_intensity__street__luukkola

    Solar intensity / Street, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/100_solar_intensity__wanderers__luukkola

    Solar intensity / Wanderers, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/050_solar_intensity__game__luukkola

    Solar intensity / Game, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/030_solar_intensity__summer

    Solar intensity / Summer, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/020_solar_intensity__bridge__luukkola

    Solar intensity / Bridge, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/luukkola_monument

    Mo[nu]ment, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    100 x 128 cm
    Edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/LUUKKOLA_PEKKA_PASSING_2011

    Passing, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/LUUKKOLA_PEKKA_TAKING_OFF_2011

    Taking Off, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/LUUKKOLA_PEKKA_GROWTH_2011

    Growth, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    100 x 128 cm
    Edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/020_landscape2_luukkola

    Landscape # 1, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/060_landscape6_luukkola

    Landscape # 2, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/020_forest2_luukkola

    Forest # 2, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/030_forest3_luukkola

    Forest # 3, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/080_forest8_luukkola

    Forest # 6, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/190_forest19_luukkola

    Forest # 1, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/PEKKA_LUUKKOLA_FOREST_V_2011

    Forest #7, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/forest4_luukkola

    Forest # 4, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/forest5_luukkola

    Forest # 5, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/microcosmos__luukkola

    Microcosmos, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    100 x 128 cm
    edition 5+2AP

  • luukkola/2011/nimeton_luukkola

    Question, 2010
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

  • luukkola/2011/solar_system_I__luukkola

    Solar system I, 2011
    pigment ink print on aluminium
    80 x 100 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    100 x 128 cm / edition 5 + 2AP
    150 x 190 cm / edition 5 + 2AP

 
 
 
 
 
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