Jaakko Pennanen is a painter from Helsinki, whose work focuses on the age-old existential questions of being human. The attempt to understand who we are is similar to making art in general – you ask questions to which you don't expect an answer, or you answer something that no one has known to ask.

Pennanen often works with the human figure and mirrors his figures against the interpretations of human representations found in art history. He is interested in renaissance art, because it has created the basis of the modern human image and also modern artistry. From a contemporary viewpoint, it is fascinating to think about what kind of layers we have built into our perception of ourselves over the centuries. Pennanen is particularly interested in themes related to human sensitivity, fragility and identity. Openness towards the possibilities of painting is important to him and he wants to keep the doors of his practice open in many directions.

In the painting process, it is important to give space to intuition and also let the paint speak. Materiality is central to Pennanen's paintings. He uses oil, tempera and spray painting techniques in his works to express e.g. different temporal layers.