Petri Niemelä

My name is Petri Niemelä, and I am a painter living and working in Tampere, Finland. In my works, I aim to depict events that occur in everyday life, including those that have affected me personally, with a core theme of the need to exist and be visible in this life.

The works in my exhibition are from the years 2008–2010. In their content and motives, you can see my recent shift in direction as a painter, and I wanted to present this collection as a kind of beginning of a continuation of where I might be heading as an artist. The collection includes some pieces from a five-year period during which I painted a man’s growth from boyhood to adulthood, as well as works from a series called “Advertshitment,” which included societal critique. This series tackled the media and advertising machine’s responsibility in distorting the ideal image of humanity within the frame of young people and children. Some of the paintings in the exhibition depict the human condition and its place within contemporary society, sometimes directionless and at times shapeless, existing only as traces of presence. The events in the works are related to the presence of everyday life, independent of time or place. The imagery is mostly symbolic, despite its representational quality.

The exhibition has been supported by the following organizations:

• Niilo Helander Foundation
• City of Tampere
• Oscar Öflund Foundation

This text was created with AI assistance