Me

Contact: hannu.toyryla@gmail.com


ARTIST STATEMENT

I work to create visually interesting works, both to reflect my inner world and experiences, and to express the complexities and contradictions of the contemporary reality. Works that look like snapshots from a story, which at the same time is my own and to be filled in by the viewer. Works in which the reality is mixed with a dream, which document a specific time and place, yet also contain a timeless, always recurring reality. Works which reflect a human being caught within a web of change and rest, facing an uncertain future, hoping and worrying, attempting to make sense of it all.

I am using new, computer and AI based techniques which I am myself developing, to generate and process images. Typically I start from photography, and the final works can range from paper prints to video and interactive installations. I am willing to co-operate with other artists and help others to start using such technical solutions I have been exploring with.

BIO

In my life, I have pursued three parallel paths:

technical path, getting an M.Sc. degree in electronics and telecommunications and working 30 years as an expert in mobile networks and soware development,

humanistic path, with an interest in history, religion and philosophy, culminating in a PhD thesis on the situation of Jews between Christian and Muslim civilizations in medieval times,

an artistic path, covering literary, musical and visual arts. In recent years, the importance of the artistic path has become primary, an attempt to connect the threads of my own identity through the years and to grasp what is happening in the world around me.

The artistic path builds on the two other paths: the technical background has helped me to explore new methods of working with images, also in interactive ways; the humanistic background hopefully provides some insight to look beyond mere appearances.

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