Jussi

An insight to the Jazz-influenced world of Berlin based artist Jussi Jääskeläinen.Berlin based Jussi Jääskeläinen works as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator for various well-known magazines, publishing houses and record labels in the European art scene - but his real love lies in the passion to create contemporary pop art.It´s too simple to say: Jussi Jääskeläinen brings the free-flowing feeling into his pieces from the influence of underground clubnights in his beloved home city and intensive (one might say even meditative) jazz listening sessions.One cannot specify whence he brings the energy and enthusiasm into his art. The techniques and the symbolism in his new works shows the progression of the young, but so talented artist, and his devoted passion to find the most obscure jazz recordings in the world and translate these into his visual ambitions.One thing is sure. The years he spent in Krakow, Frankfurt, and Turku have made an impeccable stamp on the artist and his works. The simple, yet effective approach of Jussi Jääskeläinen has an international flavour to it, with snippets from all over the world, most notably from the back-alleys of Polish industrial realism and German post-war dramatics.It was during the last summer, when Jussi Jääskeläinen started working on the earliest paintings for his forthcoming exhibition in Helsinki. Then he was still enjoying the warm summer breeze in Finland and the closeness of the Baltic Sea.“It was a good time” the artist recalls.Propulsive joy of painting and drawing filled the future evenings and the forthcoming winter.So I shall not try to analyze – even if I had the equipment to do it properly– the art shall speaks for itself.Klas-Henrik Lindblad 26/08/2006 Berlin