Ville Löppönen
Ville Löppönen (b. 1980, Savonlinna) graduated from the Department of Painting at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2007 and Master of Orthodox Theology from the University of Eastern Finland in 2018. Löppönen has participated in group exhibitions in Finland and abroad, both in Europe and North America. His solo exhibitions have been shown, e.g. in Mikkeli Art Museum in 2015, and in the Bonnafont Gallery in San Francisco in 2013. His works are represented in public collections, e.g. the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, The Niemistö Collection and the Finnish Art Society, as well as in numerous private collections in Finland and abroad. Löppönen has also participated in art fairs including the VOLTA8 Basel Art Fair in 2012 (with Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary, Helsinki), and the TIAF Toronto International Art Fair, Toronto, in 2013 (with De Luca Fine Art Gallery, Toronto). In 2013, his portrait of the Finnish painter Henry Wuorila-Stenberg won third prize at Portrait Now! the Brewer J.C. Jacobsen’s Portrait Award in Denmark.
Could you tell us a little more about your background and how you began creating art?
I was born in 1980 in Savonlinna, a small town in Eastern Finland. I’ve been interested in drawing, painting, and making images in general for longer than I remember. I attended Senior Secondary School of Art, followed by the Academy of Fine Arts painting department in Helsinki, Finland. I graduated in 2007. Making art has always been a part of my way to see and interpret life and I think it has been the only path I have been able to take.
What does your art aim to say to its viewers?
For me painting is a manifestation of stillness. Recently I have been researching the metamorphosis in my paintings and I thought about metamorphosis through the nature of light. How light is present and occurs in the painting, and how light creates something new or reshapes some that already exists into something else. My idea is: forwards through light and in light. How light and, above all, the light that arises in what happens in the painting, as the paint pigment, as the material, as color and as form, shapes and at the same time changes our interpretation and our understanding. I am fascinated by the idea of light as a creative force and as a driver of metamorphosis.
Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your daily routine when working?
Daily routines start in the morning. I am a morning person and I like to work early. When I get to the studio, I make coffee and sit down to watch and contemplate my works. Gradually I start painting and I move between watching and painting. For me, painting is a stillness that is full of movement.
What is the essential element in your art?
I hope It´s the presence of lite.
In your opinion, what role does the artist have in society?
An artist has many purposes. There is really no area where the involvement of artists or art would not be relevant. An artist is a representative of creativity who has the ability to make things different and new. Artists bring out the endless potential of creativity to participate in and change and develop anything.
Website https://villelopponen.com
