Laine does not tie his works to any particular moment or location. Although he takes photographs all over the world, he tones down the local characteristics in the final outcome.

Laine looks for a perfect landscape, which does not exist. His work is based on the search for this scenery, on the depiction of an imaginary landscape. Everywhere he goes, he finds a universal landscape. It is not a sight recognizable by all but a sight in which one always finds something familiar.

-Veikko Halmetoja, Art Critic

BIO / Janne Laine ( b. 1970 works and lives in Tampere, Finland ) has depicted landscapes for more than twenty years. He has an ability to present the landscape as a subject, which requires no speculation on the original location nor any evaluation of its authenticity. They are universal pictures, in which the landscape is shrouded beyond recognition.

Laine’s prints combine photography and printmaking. He travels around the world collecting material with his camera and then those results he transfers into etchings by heliogravure. The only manipulation of the image happens in the etching tray. Colors are added from aquatint plates when needed and occasionally with chine-collé. Laine has been working as an Art Printer over 25 years in Graphic Workshop Himmelblau and as a Master Printer since 2006 although recent years he’s been concentrated on his own Print Studio in Tampere. In 2009 he got a 5-year State Grant from the State of Finland. He has been awarded over 20 grants from various councils and foundations in Finland.

Laine had a retrospective exhibition at the Tampere Museum of Art in 2015 and he has had over 50 private exhibitions in Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Belgium and Korea. He has participated in numerous collective and group exhibitions in over 40 countries. The artist’s works have been awarded in Biennials and Triennials in Bulgaria, Spain, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Canada, Estonia, Germany and Finland. His prints appear in more than thirty different public collections worldwide and he has participated Artist in Residencies in Akureyri and Siglufjördur; Iceland, Paris; France, Budapest; Hungary and New York; USA.