Aarno Salosmaa carried out what one could state as two Artist’s careers, first as an accomplished Painter and then a renowned Video Artist. After graduating from the Finnish Academy of Arts in 1965, Salosmaa quickly established himself as a painter as well as a creator of nouveau realisme assemblages.

But as an Artist constantly looking for new visual inspiration it was not enough for him to walk only this line or to excel in just this field. In 1999 Salosmaa took the Finnish art scene by surprise, when shifting his focus from linen canvases to the pixels of new media, as he presented his first public video work ”Dance of the Swans” at Gallery Kari Kenetti, Helsinki. Salosmaa did not think there was anything dramatic in the change to this new medium, he still considered himself as a painter. He was more interested in developing new visual worlds with new aesthetic possibilities and these digital tools provided him with the platform of telling linear
stories. From then on, Salosmaa devoted himself entirely to video art. In the Autumn of 2007 a retrospective of his video works was held at Muu Gallery, Helsinki.

With rich visual imagery, carefully constructed soundscapes and attention to technical detail the video works of Salosmaa manifested themselves with strong emotional charge. Although his video works indeed contain very few elements of storytelling as such, they do nonetheless contain emotionally strong audiovisual worlds that provides them with a sensational appeal that continues to grasp the attention of the audience. One simply can not just glance at these works/worlds.

OTSO KANTOKORPI
Helsinki based journalist and critic