Sandra Kantanen

The poetic works of Sandra Kantanen (*1974 in Helsinki) are more than just landscapes. Strongly influenced by traditional Chinese landscape painting, she at first sought ideal types of motifs in the sacred mountains of China, yet rarely found what she was looking for. It was not until she combined two media and utilized painterly means that she achieved the profound expression she desired. Kantanen printed her early photos on hand-painted metal grounds, thus employing the visual tradition of painting and the connotations of the characteristic artistic style in her work. In the meantime, she has begun digitally processing her photos from China, Japan, Finland, and Tibet, creating distortion, blurring, or streaking, some of which recall the results of overexposure. In this way, the young artist, a graduate of the University of Art and Design, the talent pool in Helsinki, investigates and expands the boundaries of photography itself.Exhibition schedule: Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, June 23-July 23, 2011 Pyhäniemi Manor Hollala, Finland, July 2-August 14, 2011 Christophe Guye Galerie Zürich 7.7.-20.8.2011