° 1951

Lives in Souillac (FR).

In the painting Nulla succede per caso (Nothing Happens by Chance), Hannu Väisänen elaborates on a visual style that has characterized his work for some time. Inspired by the Roman philosopher Lucretius’s book De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), in which he establishes the main principles of the atomic universe, Väisänen has meticulously constructed an enormous field of countless small, painted spheres that together form a dense, strange surface. Taking the Italian expression as his motto, he initially let the pattern in these works develop randomly, so any similarities the final shapes may have with existing objects have arisen unconsciously. The exceedingly time-consuming work on a large painting has been documented continuously and is shown as a projection on the canvas, animating the otherwise entirely two-dimensional pictorial surface and conveying a slightly vibrating sensation. In addition to being active as a painter and graphic artist, Väisänen has also been acclaimed for his ability to lend color, volume and depth to words: in 2007, he was awarded Finland’s most prestigious literary prize, the Finlandia Prize, for his second autobiographical novel, Toiset kengät (The Other Shoes).