Väisänen’s paintings refer indirectly to nature, their shapes and colors drawing inspiration from coral reefs, mossy surfaces, the belly skin of a stingray, or the tail a peacock spider performing a courtship dance. Although his compositions are rooted in nature and its wondrous details, his paintings are never purely representational. Instead, they consciously blur the line between the abstract and the figurative. With circular compositions constituting a leitmotif in his new series of paintings, it seemed only natural for Väisänen to also include paintings of rose windows found in cathedral façades. Väisänen originally sketched the rose windows at Rouen Cathedral, which is famous for its flamboyant Gothic façade, a subject also interpreted by many Impressionists.
Hannu Väisänen (b.1951) is a multi-talented artist who moves fluently between working as a visual artist, writer, stage designer, costume designer, director and illustrator. His work is found in numerous Finnish public collections, and he has created public artworks on commission for clients, including the Finnish National Opera, Kontula Church, and Oulu Cathedral. The multi-award-winning artist is the recipient of the State Prize for Visual Arts, the Finlandia Prize for Literature in 2007, and the State Prize for Literature in 2015. Väisänen lives and works in the southwest of France.
