Vartiainen, Timo P. | Artist Register – Artists’ Association of Finland

Works available

Suoraan taiteilijalta

Basic information

b. 1960, Pielisen Karjala

Visual artist, environmental artist, sculptor

Residence: Helsinki

Contact information

Email: timovar@gmail.com

Show biography

Paraskeva's Birds XXII : Maalitaulu work was completed in spring 2023 in the Rajatalo yard in the eco-village of Keuruu.

TRASH IS LUXURY, episode II in the exhibition Objects and Phenomena at Kouvola Art Museum in Poikilo 2021. The artists in the exhibition are Timo Heino, Jaakko Tornberg and Timo Vartiainen. At the same time, Jan Ijäs' films will be screened at Kino-Poikilo.

TRASH IS LUXURY, Dumpster Diving in the Anthropocene in Helsinki Art Museum HAM 19.1.–25.3.2018. Solo exhibition.

ON ART BECOMING FORESTED – Exercises for Post-Fossil Conditions, is the first Finnish-language anthology of articles on artistic practices investigating post-fossil thinking. University of the Arts Helsinki, 2018. https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/24602

ORANKI ART 16 Environmental Art Exhibition in Pello, Lapland, Finland http://www.orankiart.fi/nayttelyt.html

Bio

TIMO P. VARTIAINEN is an environmental artist who uses in his works experiences and materials from different geographical or cultural margins. His works often deal with questions on: environmental issues, consumerism and cultural identities. The starting points in his projects are outside the studio context in the outdoor, as well in the city as in the middle of nature.

The final work consists of photographs, texts, drawings, artist’s book, found objects, soundscapes, wall paintings or perceptions of natur.

The originality of his works comes from his way of combining different objects and concepts and his way of throwing himself into physically challenging situations.

He is best known for his pioneering work on RUBBISH, the Archeology of a Garbage Dump. In a multidisciplinary environmental project, a disused traditional rubbish dump was opened up as the starting point for a variety of performances and exhibitions (Vartiainen & Jensen 1992).
With the series Home Garbology, the artist has put his garbage archaeological theme on the table for a second time, now from 2012 and into the 2020s.
Vartiainen is also known for works based on long walks and hitchhiking trips around the Baltic Sea, from Russian Karelia to Komi Taiga and from Venize to Istanbul.

Significant to the content of his art are his involvement in environmental movements, his nature hobbies that began at the age of 13, and his hikes in mountains and forest.

Studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finland 1984–1988 and Lahti Institute of Design, Lahti, Finland 1980–1983.

Vartiainen made his first environmental works in the outer archipelago of the Gulf of Finland in the summers of 1982 and 1984.

Selected solo exhibitions: 2018 HAM Helsinki Art Museum / 2014 and 1994 Kluuvi Gallery of HAM Helsinki Art Museum / 2008 Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma with Alkovi Gallery, Helsinki / 2007 Helsinki International Artist-in-residence, Project Room in Cable Factory, Helsinki / 2004 Museum of Contemporary Art, Kiasma, Studio K, Helsinki / 2002 Studio Mezzo, Helsinki / 1999 Titanik Gallery, Turku, Finland /

Selected group exhibition: Kouvola Art Museum Poikilo 2021 / 2013 Art Hall Helsinki, 2011 Trømso Gallery of Contemporary Art, Norway / Green Art Trilogia 2006, Salo, Finland / 2003 Utopia, 2nd Tirana Biennial, Tirana, Albania / 2003 Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey / 1999 Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki / 2002 Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki / 1997 Pori Art Museum, Pori, Finland

Works in the collections: HAM Helsinki Art Museum / RikArt artists' book collection, City of Helsinki / Finnish National Gallery archive / Lusto Forest Museum in Punkaharju / Veikkaus Oy / Private collections