Persten

Jani Leinonen was born in Hyvinkää, Finland in 1970. He studied in art in Helsinki and moved to New York when he was 22. Leinonen has said to have three goals in his art: "I want to make an artwork that will be stolen from a museum, to make an artwork that will end up pirate production in Shanghai, and I want to become so famous that Damien Hirst's mother knows me."

Jani Leinonen plays with the systems of commodity exchange and celebrity. He aims at revealing the hidden codes behind seemingly neutral images and displays. The strategy Leinonen uses is rather unique in contemporary art, but has deep historical roots. He's the King's jester, a special figure whose role in the old courts was to express that which could not be said - a moral voice in a disguise of colourful pop art and junk food culture. He immerses himself in these processes instead of simply criticising them. What is displayed, though, are not goods but an artistic allegorisation that appropriates these marketing strategies only in order to unhinge their underlying assumptions about value and appropriateness.

Jani Leinonen is currently working and living in Helsinki.

www.janileinonen.fi

SOLO SHOWS
2009
Retrospective, Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää
Free World, Collaboration with Riiko Sakkinen, Bourouina Gallery, Berlin
Jani's and Riiko's Free World (with Riiko Sakkinen), Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
Rejected Ideas for Cap'n Crunch Advertisements, Gallery Moeller Snow, NY, USA
2008
Coulrophobia, Oulu Art Museum, Oulu, Finland
Rejected Ideas for Advertisements, Gallery Krista Mikkola, Helsinki, Finland
Forbitten Advertisements, Gallery Stoa, Vantaa, Finland
2007
Rejected Ideas for Elovena Oatmeal Advertisements, Gallery Huoltamo, Tampere
Jani's Art Chop Shop, Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma, Helsinki
Anything Helps, Bar 9, Helsinki
Anyhing Helps, Gallery Koivulinna, Pukkila
Undress me (with Paola Suhonen),  Ivana-koti, Helsinki
2006
Art Super Market Pikasso, Helsinki
2005
Pay-per-Art, Platform, Vaasa
2004
Uutuus! Nyhet! Galleria Krista Mikkola, Helsinki
Boz Ulu Delgin, Testsite, Austin
Earn Money without a Job (with Riiko Sakkinen), San Antonio
2003
Cocktail, Kuvataideakatemian galleria, Helsinki
2002
Jani Leinonen vs. Riiko Sakkinen, Kluuvin galleria, Helsinki
Pay-per-View, Plus Ultra Gallery, New York

GROUP SHOWS
2009
The Man Who Fell to Earth. Curated by Rául Zamudio. Beijing 798 Biennale
Aspect of Pop, Galerie Gmurzynska, Zürich
The Collectors, Nordic and Danish Pavilion, Biennale di Venezia, Venice
Får ei överstäckas, Eskilstuna Kunstmuseum, Eskilstuna, Sweden
Trickle Down Theory, Korjaamo Gallery, Helsinki
Megalomania, Huoltamo Gallery, Tampere
On the Right Track, Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma, Helsinki
2008
Sampo, 4mula Gallery, St. Petersburg
Finnish Breakfast, Larm Gallery, Copenhagen
Purnu, Orivesi
Fennofolk, Design Museum, Helsinki
2007
Flag Show, Lasipalatsinaukio, Helsinki
2006
Unclassified, Helsinki City Art Museum, Helsinki
2005
Turku Shop, Turku City Art Museum, Turku
No Painting! Kunsthalle Tallin
Populism, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
Populism, The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius
Populism, Amsterdam Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Vasta maalattu, Keravan taidemuseo, Kerava
2004
Untittled, Galerie Mathias Kampl, Münich
Peinture Fraiche, Le Triage, Paris
Mäntän kuvataideviikot, Mänttä
Musta tuntuu, Rauman taidemuseo, Rauma
2003
Process, Kiasma, Helsinki
2002
Peep Art, Kuvataideakatemian galleria, Helsinki
2001
Tamarindos, Tijuana
National Championships of Art, Kiasma-teatteri, Helsinki
Star Critic (with Jaakko Veijola), Kiasma, Helsinki
2000
Cows (with Marko Myllyluoma), Windhoek
1999
11 ja 33 vaikuttajaa (with Joonas Kota), Kuvataideakatemia, Helsinki

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma
Amos Anderson Museum
Helsinki City Art Museum
Turku Art Museum
Various private collections in Europe, US and Russia

STUDIES
1997-2002, Academy of Fine Art in Helsinki, MFA
2000, Helsinki University, Department of Pedagogy
1999-2000, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh

PUBLICATIONS
2009
Jani and Riiko´s Free World, Amos Anderson Museum
2006
Boz Ulu, with Riiko Sakkinen, Fluent Collaborative
2004
Jani Leinonen Mail Order Catalog, Spring Collection
2003
Jani Leinonen -postimyyntiluettelo, Fall Collection
Consumer Revolution in Art, Kuvataideakatemia
2001
National Championships of Contemporary Art
1999
11 ja 33 Celebrities, with Joonas Kota