At the end of the loop is the magnificent fallen trees

170x220cm, acrylic on canvas

2016

Maculas

40x40cm, oil on canvas

2017

Gorge

118x118cm, acrylic on canvas

2016

Arenaria norvegica

102x83cm, acrylic on canvas

2017

Glacier Buttercups and Mountain Sorrel

62,5x59cm, Ink and oil on canvas

2017

Chains

130x120cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

2017

Two lynx

150x190cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

2016

Skimba5

120x120cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

2016

Jeanne d ` Arc

185x165cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

2016

Skimba3

65x65cm, oil on canvas

2016

Scholars

140x170cm, acrylic on canvas

2016

Boxes

138x115cm, oil on canvas

2016

Binoculars

50x80cm, oil on canvas

2016

Minuartia stricta

100x80cm, acrylic on canvas

2017

Mosquito

170x140cm, acrylic on canvas

2016

Carcase 

65x65cm, oil on canvas

2016

Spillings

170x140cm, acrylic and oil on canvas

2016

Slalom

65x65cm, acrylic on canvas

2017

Skimba

120x130cm, oil on canvas

2016

Beam of Life

8 April - 29 May 2016

Oulu Art Museum

Oulu, Finland

 

Hanna Kanto gets inspired by the rugged landscape and the traditional culture of her northern homeland. She keep the minimalistic and inhospitable northern landscape and its people as a reference point for her art. The thematic arc of her art is supported by a concern about the disappearance of a unique cultural environment. Even though certain nostalgia and sorrow is present, the paintings are above all elegiac shots of the northern landscape and its original and rich cultural heritage. Kanto also explores and studies herself inside the landscape, how it is to live and dwell as a woman in the North.

 

Moreover, in her expression you can find numerous references to explorers who arrived in the northern parts of Finland and Sweden throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. To give few examples: Maupertuis and Louis Philippe during the 18th Century, the La Recherché-expedition during the 19th Century and Kaarina Kari during the 20th Century. Their journeys to the North were explorations of nature and life itself which unveiled new findings. In Kanto`s artistic work she assumes a position of an explorer and adapt their methodology.

 

Kanto`s body of work consists mainly of acrylic and oil paintings, but when the topic requests it, she builds installations and produce video art around the theme. She uses the medium of painting both in a diversified and experimental way.