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"Visual fireworks from today's most prestigious Finnish colourist." Those words were used to describe one of Mari Rantanen's solo exhibitions, and for any color lover fireworks is exactly the type of excitement felt when seeing her architecturally inspired forms with layers upon layers of bright color.

The paintings are quite large and were made especially with a view to putting them on show... Rantanen's works evince and evoke the artist's passion for architecture and man-made landscapes, but also for strong colours and visual cultures. The relationship between painting and architecture is important for Rantanen â€" the paintings are almost like installations the viewer can "enter into". Rantanen says that she paints her own states of emotion and experience â€" the works are pictures of how places, towns, buildings or situations feel like. "I want to make life visible, also that part of it which is invisible â€" to create places for emotions." - absolutearts.com

Mari Rantanen (b. 1956) is one of the best-known Finnish artists internationally. In addition to the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, she also studied at the Pratt Institute in New York in the early 1980s. She was nominated the Young Finnish Artist of the Year in 1989. For the last 20 years Mari Rantanen has lived and worked in New York and Stockholm. In 1996â€"2006 she also worked as professor at the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Mari Rantanen's paintings and prints have been exhibited extensively in Europe, the United States and Japan. Her works are found in all major collections in Finland and in Scandinavia and also in many public places, municipalities, parishes, and cultural institutions. The Finnish Government commissioned a mosaic for the Turku Provincial Prison in 2006, and her installation entitled Under resans gÃ¥ng has been exhibited on the underground stations in Stockholm - absolutearts.com