
Known for his experiments in abstraction through analog photography, Niko Luoma uses light as a raw material to combine multiple exposures on the same photo negative. His Adaptations series explores his fascination with reinterpreting artworks from art history that have influenced the way we think about art as a society. He analyses the paintings by creating sketches that deconstruct each work based on its lines of perspective and counterpoints. Building his images one shape at a time, he uses cut-out templates to block and redirect light onto the same negative through a series of color filters. Through these techniques of repetition and overlapping, he disassembles the images into shapes and rearranges them, destroying their initial forms. This process generates a seemingly random set of geometric figures. Each adaption creates a surprising dialogue with the original artwork, the similarities becoming increasingly apparent upon closer inspection. Rather than direct interpretations of art history, these works serve as extensions of how he feels, hears, and senses these influences.
Niko Luoma (*1970 in Helsinki) studied at the New England School of Photography, Boston (1995) and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1998), before graduating from Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2003, where he has been teaching ever since. Luoma’s works are in numerous collections, such as the Sir Elton John Collection at V&A South Kensington (London), Borusan Contemporary (Istanbul), and the European Central Bank Art Collection. His works have been exhibited worldwide at institutions such as Weserburg Museum of Modern Art (Bremen, DE), EMMA (Espoo, FI), Landskrona Museum (SE), the Stenersen Museum (Oslo), and the Finnish Museum of Photography (Helsinki). Luoma lives and works between Helsinki and Trieste, Italy.