Jorma Puranen

Painting a photographic surface is not a novel idea; the late 19th and early 20th century vogue for photographing Pictorialist tableaux demanded hand-coloured portraits. But the technique developed by the celebrated Finnish Professor of Photography at Helsinki University, Jorma Puranen, is utterly original. He takes a large wooden board which he coats with black glossy alkyd paint. He leaves the board in the arctic landscape letting the elements work on the paint, disfiguring the surface.  He then returns to photograph the reflected landscape and the result is a unique ‘photograph painting’.

Jorma Puranen/ Icy Prospects 46/ C-print/ Edition of 6/ 160cm x 198cm/ Courtesy of Purdy Hicks Gallery