Toni Markus Hautamäki was born in Turku in 1977. Hautamäki is a visual artist, singer-songwriter, and amateur essayist, and his studio is located at the House of Art in Turku. As a visual artist, Hautamäki primarily works with conceptual expression. Since his studies, he has employed a formalist approach characterized by color-based compositions and a precise painting technique.

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In Hautamäki’s paintings, the meanings conveyed through various letter combinations create a dialogue between the works. Abbreviations highlight societal and environmental concerns, as well as global ecological threats caused by large corporations.

The works also utilize iconic calls to action or symbols from the world of marketing. On the other hand, the paintings also reflect the artist’s personal interest in philosophy, the interaction between the arts, jazz music, and a desire to defend positive life values.

The artist’s “Global Alphabets” series is multi-meaningful. Its interpretation can be stretched depending on the context. For example, XEBP may bring name abbreviations forward for reinterpretation. XE, for instance, refers to a military-sector company whose defensive objectives became tainted in armed incidents and turned into a symbol of greed and violence. In contrast, BP opens up the interpretation to various phenomena through its association with the oil company. The fields of the painting’s letters and backgrounds mix and connect events, transforming the letters into other, strange symbols. Alienating and global messages can also be freed from societal content, allowing the paintings to be seen as seemingly pure, aesthetic plays with color compositions.

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