The Helsinki School: New Photography by TaiK (v 2)

Hardcover. 2007

This second installment of The Helsinki School approaches conceptual photography through the dialogue between one generation and another, among artists who have taught at and attended photography programs at the close-knit University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finland, TaiK. Among the mentors are Aino Kannisto, whose somber young women look out from staged scenes with visual echoes of reportage and snapshots; Janne Lehtinen, whose winged subjects, would-be Icaruses, are clearly never going to leave the ground; and Pentti Sammallahti, whose landscapes are bathed in the calm of classic black-and-white. Among their protegees, color and pattern predominate, and the influence of German peers is leavened with a little Scandinavian absurdity. Includes work by Riitta Päiväläinen and Jyrki Parantainen, among others.