On Wednesdays, we look at artist/designer statements or About pages and discuss the vocabulary they use to describe their work. Today we’ll look at the About page of Hannu Huhtamo, a photographer that specializes in painting with light.
Here is the text from his website Bio, in italics.
Hannu Huhtamo is a visual artist from Helsinki, Finland. Since 2008 Hannu has been working on light art and long exposure photography. With different kinds of light sources he creates new worlds into darkness and paints the unseen seen. Hannu’s light art photography consists of amazing symmetrical light flowers, fauna, and luminous sculptures which he draws into various locations along the elements of the current environment and ambient lighting. Unusual and forgotten places in the city outskirts become a surreal scene for his art.
Hannu is also part of the Valopaja light art collective that organizes workshops and interactive live light painting performances in which the audience has the opportunity to be a part of the show by creating light art of their own.
Hannu’s work has gained a lot of attention in the art world all over the Internet and has been featured in various magazines, blogs, music videos and news channels like CNN and Discovery Channel. He also cooperates with artists worldwide and with brands such as LED light manufacturer LED LENSER.
Now my comments:
In the first paragraph, we learn a little background information about Huhtamo. I like that he included how long he’s been working in this medium because it gives me a sense of his development as an artist. As he explains in the video, long exposure photography is a kind of photography where you leave the shutter open for minutes or even hours for a single exposure. He talks about using different kinds of light sources, which means different types of lights are used to get different effects. Next, he describes his work and the kinds of subjects he paints, such as fauna, which means the animals that live in that area.
He also describes the locations he paints at along the elements of the current environment and ambient lighting. I think what he means here is that he incorporates existing elements into his light drawings, so if he paints near an old car, it becomes a part of the painting. Ambient lighting means the light in the environment, and you can see that in some of his paintings, there is a faint light in the background from the sky or city lights. We use the word outskirts to mean the outer edge of something – far from the center, so he paints in the forgotten places on the edge of the city.
Huhtamo gives us a lot of good information in this bio, not only describing his work but also sharing some details about his motivation and techniques. We know how long he’s been working in this medium and we’ve learned a little about his process. I’d also like to know what challenges he faces in such a unique medium, and how his work has evolved since 2008.
I really like this artist’s bio, because it tells us what we need to know without making it too complex to understand. Sometimes, I think this can actually be an advantage for non-native speakers because they don’t try to use impossible vocabulary or really elaborate phases to describe their work like native speakers often do. A good language coach can help you to develop a writing style that is accurate, engaging, but also easy to understand.
At Artglish, we help artists and designers to write a statement or About page that best describes their work. We focus on choosing the best vocabulary and language to help you share your work with others. If you want to learn more, click here to join The Studio and try some free ways to improve your English, or check out our Lessons page to learn how Artglish can help you succeed.
I’ve chosen 5 words or phrases for you to focus on today. They are in bold. If you don’t know them, look up the meaning, synonyms, antonyms, and other forms of these words. You can find links to Merriam-Webster dictionary sites at the bottom of this page.
To see the artist’s website, click the link below:
http://www.hannuhuhtamo.com/