Sami Lukkarinen (Jyväskylä, Finland, 1976) he studied at the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts. His artistic work is primarily inspired by images he finds on the Internet, especially photographs of people, portraits, and selfies. Using these images as a starting point, Lukkarinen alters their colors and composition. One of the most notable features of his work is the use of thick layers of paint, applied with a palette knife, which create a surface with great texture and depth.
The artist experiments with the relationship between the digital and the traditional. Although his paintings are based on digital photographs and the pixels in those images, by transferring them to canvas he transforms them into physical, pictorial objects. The colors are built up gradually, reproducing the different shades of the original image and creating a visual effect that, from a certain distance, may appear blurry or pixelated.
His paintings primarily feature human figures, often taken from everyday images or people he knows. Through them, Lukkarinen reflects on contemporary visual culture and the vast number of photographs and images we constantly see on the Internet and social media. The selfie phenomenon also plays an important role in his work, as it represents a new way of presenting and constructing our own identity.
Lukkarinen currently lives and works in Helsinki and has presented her work in different international exhibitions. Her paintings are part of major collections, such as those of Microsoft, Absolut Art, the Finnish State Art Collection, and the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.
