Jani Hänninen (born 1974) presents the "Dead end story" series of works in the project room. The twenty or so paintings and assemblages on show state in obvious terms why this young man has been called the "Basquiat of the North", and why his exhibition last spring at the gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts Academy in Helsinki aroused a great deal of attention in art circles.
Hänninen’s works bare the fear and anxiety of a deserted urban child, the rage of man caught between structures of power, the shame and defiance of the weak. And they exhibit undeniable talent, skill – salvation: the possibility to rise above assigned terms and conditions, or at least to bypass them.
Composition, colourism, draughtsmanship. Admittedly this may sound academic, but they are the tool or weapon – the means of analysis and control – that Jani Hänninen holds in his hands.
Ilona Anhava
