Hannu Palosuo — Essay by Berndt Arell (2006)

" Our revels now are ended. These our actors
as I foretold you, were all spirits and
are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
the cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
the solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
and like this insubstantial pageant faded,
leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
as dreams are made on, and our little life
is rounded with a sleep."

A close observation of Hannu Palosuo's latest works unmistakably unveils the feeling of a faded dream world. Shakespeare lets Prospero, duke of Milan in his "Tempest", utter the above words to depict a hardly understandable reality. By the same token, Palosuo describes his reality through his imagery. The first striking impression is that of all-out void. Nothing appears to happen on the canvas. The narration, the message, the event, take place before the image comes to life – or maybe later, outside the scene. As Prospero watches his world disappear, Palosuo senses the inconsistency of being. Feelings are permanently transferred to the canvas. Painting as a way to immortalize, remember and elaborate the artist's significant memories. The key to Palosuo's imagery is in the paintings' titles. Reading them in chronological order – which is always advisable – tells the story of the artist's life.

Hannu's image building process is somewhat contradictory. Needless to say, the painting style is beautiful – the images are visually compelling. A masterly brushstroke. The many experiments on materials, the blend of different techniques are but a part of his research, or rather means of inner research, explorations in his inner reality. The chair as the artist's signature, if a luxury brand chair, goes beyond its function to become a Sign, a Symbol, even a Metaphor for the artist. To this, 1999 painting “Self portrait” is worth mentioning. If the chair is the artist's double – or even the artist himself – his images are but the pages of his diary.

The privileged angle to Hannu Palosuo's art is autobiography; chairs are there to corroborate narration. The works do not deal with what is perceived at first sight – i.e., old chairs, if precious pieces of furniture. The theme proposed by artist is rather life – and its ephemereality.

The (Three) Ages of Man

The paintings can approximately be listed under three theme groups: childhood, youth, adulthood. The narration flows uninterrupted through these three ages. As Palosuo uses his life, his family photobook and childhood memories, the images in this diary are rather blurred.

The innocent child looks in the eyes of the audience: he has got his whole life in front of him. A shiny, sunny path is awaiting. The whole world is out there to be discovered. This is the theme of the series "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie": the child observes the surrounding environment, gradually but curiously. The almost snow white background, the clear-cut dramatic shadow strengthens the impression of sun, warmth, summer. The same motive is present throughout the previous series "Suoriants souvenirs", even if the mood here is completely different. The child walks with just his shorts on, moving inside a scarcely lit, threatening room. Half the image is swallowed by a black shadow; only the checkerboard ground hints at the hugeness of the room, seemingly infinite. The smaller newborn lies face downwards on his blanket, looking back, towards the audience, beyond his shoulder, and he appears to be drawn to the dark eerie room too. The shiny path may not be that shiny, after all.

Be it an actual or imaginary family photobook, it served as a model for the paintings that can be considered as the imagery of youth. The 2005 series "In silence dreams are hidden" marked a breakthrough for the artist. By duplicating his image, he depicted a real-life painting with an imaginary world – or the world of past events – as a background. Chairs in this series are all painted in strong – almost loud – colors, highlighting contrast with the world of shadows somewhat looming on the background. These are images of past events, witnessed and lived by the chairs that bring those memories with them. A small child sitting on a chair too big for him, dangling his legs; proud parents lifting their offspring to the sky; a boy, deep in his thoughts, sitting on the ground in front of his chair. Thus flows the narration, on the stage of a shadow theater. The color palette is warm, the general mood optimistic. Previous versions of this motive, like for instance "We leave behind" (1999) had been painted in dark, somber color themes, directly imported from old black and white photos.

Life as a young man grows more intense. The paintings tell stories of deep feelings, conflicts, disappointment along with euphoria. Palosuo hints at the right angle to these images in the title – "The lovestory of the century" (1998). In terms of literature, this would not be a happy ending fairy tale, either. The color palette is brownish; the scene is an empty attic. The door is wide open, as is the window, the curtain flies. The room is empty, abandoned. Love had flown away. This one is all the more significant for the interpretation of the series that follows. Love – as well as falling in love – makes the human being hesitant, as if unworthy to claim the prize. Whose love is this? Where does the yearning come from? The theme is similar to Märta Tikkanen's book on her love for her husband Henrik. Again, the paintings' titles give precious clues. "Memory of a lovestory", or "I confess that I, too, have suffered for love" are telltale hints of the motive. Love brings about suffering and abandonment. The artist narrates his love, his love memories and his longing. Just like in Edith Södergran's poem

The land that is not
I long for the land that is not
for all that is, I weary of desiring.
The moon is telling me in silvern runes
of the land that is not,
the land where all our wishes are wondrously fulfilled,
the land where all our shackles fall,
the land where our bleeding forehead cools
in the dew of the moon.
My life was a burning illusion.
But one thing I found and one thing I really gained –
the road to the land that is not.
In the land that is not
there walks my beloved with a glittering crown.
Who is my beloved? The night is dark
and the stars quiver in answer.
Who is my beloved? What is his name?
The heaven arch higher and higher
and human being is drowned in endless mist
and knows no answer.
But a human being is nothing but certainty.
And it stretches its arms higher than all heavens.
And there comes an answer:
I am the one you love and will always love.

(Translation by Martin Allwood)

There are many similarities between the above poem and Hannu Palosuo's research – the harmony of language, that particular pace. Södergran's question "who is the beloved one, what is his name?" resounds throughout Palosuo's works. In his painting, time after time he goes back to the person he loves; the object of love may change, not the intensity. The series "Besides all, I did love him" (1999) borrows the narrative method from comics. The checkerboard ground of life is linear, well organized. In turn, the chairs follow no rules. They may be ranked in straight rows, or along a regular perimeter; shortly afterwards, they get shuffled. Some just refuse to follow the pattern, to comply with the rules agreed upon. The result cannot be but chaos, rebel chairs that speak for themselves.

The room is defined by the checkerboard ground, as the walls are not visible. The room is but the scene. In the following paintings, the ground disappears; the boundaries of a room are hardly perceivable. Here the artist uses the shadows to define the room. Strongly elongated shadows build the image. These works, featured in the 2001 series "I confess" emanate a sort of cosmic solitude – the audience is left completely alone in an eternal room whose buondaries cannot even be grasped. One feels almost physically exposed.

New materials

This almost minimalist breakthrough – all elements but the chair are left out – pushes the artist surprisingly in a new direction. He experiments with different materials, free to blend heterogeneous techniques together. The results are thoroughly new. The imagery is most dramatic – screaming disquieting messages out loud. Palosuo works with metallic surfaces and adopts the oxidization technique. The artist is evidently fascinated by the beauty of these surfaces, by the colors of the earth and their unpredictability. The pigment, i.e. the color as such, gives pleasant sensations, yet the generated image is eerie. Thanks to the structure of the surface, the images gain a degree of depth hard to achieve by brushstroking; they seem to extend infinitely. 2004 series "Childhood playground" is a tale of chaos and confusion, where nothing appears as it ought to be. Once again, two different paintings in one – the realistic chair, and the oxidized paint, almost formalistic. The thrill of these images is in the materials – metals and liquid oxidations. Beauty is somewhat found in its contrary: a grunge metal surface is beautified by the material (the pigment). Similar experiments and research were carried out by many artists in the '70s, especially in New York. Worth mentioning are Andy Warhol's "Oxidation paintings" – at the core of the creative process, the artist urinates on canvas covered in a copper-based. The key element is the process here, yet the similarity with Palosuo's works is striking.

The artist has used thick cement and oil colors for his latest painting, seemingly inspired by the motive of cosmic void. To add volume, he uses thick slaked lime, in relief. Like in oxidized paintings, the material plays a key role in building images. The inspiration came from family snapshots; chairs tell their own stories, with the aid of blurred, shadowy memories.

Palosuo's most recent images are still inspired by the family photobook, and maybe not only by his own. Big, cold, icy images. He uses the traditional technique of oil on canvas, sticking to a rigorously cold and limited bluish palette. All characters look far away, outside the image frame. Audience and character are kept apart, the direction is outwards. Nostalgia is the key feeling. Sad, melancholic images, expressing the lack of something that had existed but has now disappeared. Actually, the series is made up by two separate parts that share the same title, "The dream that dares not to tell its name". The theme of the chair is reinterpreted here – the furniture is painted with clear brushstrokes, placed in well-defined rooms, delimited by windows. Palosuo has inverted light direction. Is this backlight at the end of a tunnel – the hope for a positive outcome, or rather a dazzling, disturbing beam?

The widest series of images was inspired by the photobook. The color palette is unchanged – bluish images, with lingering melancholy and sadness. The characters wait, hearts full of hope and longing. The hope lies outside the image, the direction is ahead; one can only figure out what lies ahead.

Nostalgia for lost love could be the Leitmotiv of this new bluish series. A self-aware, reassuring style that goes in some new direction. The title of this series unmistakably quotes Oscar Wilde's definition of homosexual love: "The love that dares not to tell its name”. This might be what the artist dreams of in his pale blue paintings.