”The Finland Phenomenon” explores an image of Finland that cannot be seen from a photograph or video alone. It is a filtered image in which I attempt to combine multiple contextual levels and create a new kind of interpretation and image of Finland. A Finland in which new themes have emerged: the class society as a new phenomenon; man and nature; sports and its side-effects as an interpretation of society; and tradition in relation to the present. It is a kind of magic realism in which fantasy and realism are combined on different levels.
I conceived this series by sketching with photographs, video, text, drawings and paintings, but in such a way that the end result is nevertheless a painting.
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dancers-round-the-magic-mushroom-tree-in-the-deepest-forests-of-Finland-2.jpg)
water color on paper
224 x 150 cm
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EI-0002.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Among-Men-2011.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Heja-Finland-2011-water-color-on-paper-50-x-140-cm-1-1280x474.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Why-this-happens-to-us-every-time-time-time-2011-watercolour-on-paper-100-x-200-cm-2.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/pilkkijat-2.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Smokecity-2-2.jpg)
![](https://petrihytonen.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/jaljet-haviaa-2.jpg)