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Illan sinihämyssä kuvattu järvimaisema, jossa suuri kallio ja ylhäältä veteen putoava tulivana. Image Pekka Luukkola
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Jyväskylä Art Museum
3rd June–6th September 2020

Extensive exhibition by renowned landscape photographer features around 40 works, many of them taken in the age-old landscapes of Central Finland.

Pekka Luukkola creates intense photographs that feature seashore or lakeside views. The blue-toned pictures taken at dusk also include the element of fire, tracking the path of someone moving on the water, presented as a photographic trace. The calm pictures invite us to consider the passage of time and the importance of nature to humanity.

“All my photos are taken in Finland, and theoretically they could have been made at almost any time in history. We have lived in these parts for ten thousand years, yet the bedrock and the fundamental landscape remain the same wherever we have not yet touched them. I also invite busy contemporary viewers to stop for a while to consider the value of our landscapes and our roots: our ancestors looking up at the night sky in wonder as well as the horizon beyond the open water.” –Pekka Luukkola

Luukkola’s works are combinations of nature, science and art, merging the imaginary and the real. The pictures usually require extensive planning and preparation. Luukkola employs traditional large-format methods, exposing the sheet film for extended periods of time to capture an event otherwise invisible to the human eye.

Luukkola has travelled 170,000 km around Finland to take his photographs. In Central Finland he has captured views from Saarijärvi and Kuhmoinen, among other places. In his latest works he has turned his gaze upwards, observing the motion of bird wings, and even further out to the Milky Way. The magnificent video Sense of Time depicts the relationship between the starry sky and the landscape and the movements that take place over one night.

Pekka Luukkola (b. 1968) is a photographer, artist and bookmaker based in Helsinki. The topic of his doctoral dissertation at Aalto University is quality in photography. His work has won acclaim in Fotofinlandia, Ars Fennica and book of the year competitions, among others. Luukkola has work in many art collections, including the Finnish State Art Collection, the art museums of Helsinki, Tampere, Hämeenlinna, Jyväskylä and Salo, as well as many private collections in Finland and abroad.
 

 

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Illan sinihämyssä kuvattu järvimaisema, jossa suuri kallio ja ylhäältä veteen putoava tulivana. Image Pekka Luukkola

 Pekka Luukkola, Mo[nu]ment, 2010