ABOUT

Tommi Pasanen

b. 1995, Oulu

Lives and works in Helsinki

tommi.pasanen@mail.suomi.net
 

My practice is based on painting’s extensive traditions. Material enquiry is at the center of my work and I approach painting as a three-dimensional object rather than an illusion of an image on canvas.


My pictorial motifs comes from the environment we all share, both urban and natural. My paintings are inspired by traces and signs experienced and seen in these places. Such marks that fascinate me include scratches on lampposts, road marks in asphalt, worn paint layers in facades and beetle trails in tree trunks. I approach these signs as evidence of interactions.


Passage of time is my main subject matter. I use found and modified ready-made materials as parallels to traditional painting techniques. For example in my work oil-painted linen canvas is juxtaposed with a red ochre plank that has fallen from a wall of an old barn. By using different materials and techniques from long periods of time I encapsulate time in painting.

Education

 

2022 – 2024        MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Helsinki

2018 – 2021        BFA, Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts, Helsinki

Exhibitions


Currently

                              Nuoret 2026, Kunsthalle Helsinki (group)


Upcoming

              

2026                     Valve Gallery, Oulu (group)

2026                     Forum Box, Helsinki (solo)


Past


2025                     Snowball Effect 5, Aine Art Museum, Tornio (group)

2025                     Sleetbite, K17 – Space for Art and Ecology, Sipoo (group)

2024                     Interstices, Yö Gallery, Helsinki (group)

2024                     Me, Himmeli Gallery, Karstula (group)

2023                     Syyssalonki, tm-gallery, Helsinki (group)

2023                     Kuvan Kevät (MFA exhibition), Kuva/Tila, Helsinki (group)

2022                     Laajasalo Summer Exhibition, Outdoors, Helsinki (duo with 

                              Toivo Heinimäki)

2022                     Monumental Change, Project Room, Helsinki (group)

2021                     Kosminen Kevätsalonki, Kosminen gallery, Helsinki (group)

2021                     BFA Exhibition, Kuva/Tila, Helsinki (group)

2018                     Rakkaudesta vapauteen, Oulu Art Museum, Oulu (group)

Grants


2026                     Greta and William Lehtinen Foundation – Working grant

2026                     Finnish Arts and Culture Agency – Project grant

2025                     Finnish Art Society – Grant for Young Artist
2025                     The Paulo Foundation – Working grant


Memberships


                              Finnish Painter’s Union

Works in Collections

 

                               Aine Art Museum

                               Finnish State Art Commission (Finnish National Gallery)

                               Finnish Art Society – Art Lottery 2023

                               Private collections