Arno Rafael Minkkinen

Arno Rafael Minkkinen (b. Helsinki, 1945^[1]) is a Finnish photographer who works in the United States.

Career

Minkkinen is known for his black and white abstract pieces which juxtapose bodies and landscapes in surprising ways: he "directs scenes in which his body — or a portion of it — appears as an integral part of the landscape — such as an outcropping or rock formation".^[2]

Minkkinen was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1945.^[3] After his family moved to the United States, Minkkinen graduated from Wagner College in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, and from Rhode Island School of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind^[1] with a Master of Fine Arts in Photography. After teaching for a few years at M.I.T. Minkkinen is now a Full Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the Art Department,^[4] where he, together with Timo Laaksonen, founded the cultural exchange, Spirit Level Workshops in 1996. Together with Laaksonen and Mark Eshbaugh, Spirit Level II (2003) and III (2007) resulted in the publication of a book commemorating the experiences to date.^[5] Minkkinen's work is included in over 55 major museum/institutional collections including the Helsinki Museum of Photography, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.^[6]

Notable photographs

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• Self-portrait, Beach Pond, CT, 1974^[7]
• Self-portrait, Narragansett, RI, 1973^[7]
• Self-portrait, Helsinki, Finland, 1977^[7]
• Self-portrait, Kalavesi, Kupio, Finland, 1991^[7]
• Self-portrait, With Maija-Kaarina, Sysma, Finland, 1992^[7]

Exhibitions

Minkkinen's solo exhibitions have included:

• "Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty-Five Years of Photographs". DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park (Lincoln, Mass.); Bucharest Museum of Contemporary Art; Lianzhou International Photography Festival; Salo Art Museum (Finland). 2005–2008.^[4]

Books

Minkkinen has published several books including:

• Frostbite. Dobbs Ferry, NY, Morgan &Morgan, 1978. ISBN 0-87100-143-8.
• Waterline. New York, NY, 1993. ISBN 0-89381-648-5.
• Body Land. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institutional Press, Washington DC, 1999. ISBN 1-56098-880-0.
• Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty-five Years of Photographs. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2005 ISBN 0-8118-5146-X.

(essay by A. D. Coleman)

• Home Work. Helsinki: LIKE, 2008. ISBN 978-9520101084.

He is co-editor and has images in:

• Timo Laaksonen and Arno Rafael Minkkinen. In Spirit of the Masters. Keravan Taidomuseo 2000. ISBN 952-9642-23-7.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} The Photo Book (London: Phaidon, 1997; ISBN 0-7148-3634-6), p.317.
2. ^ Naomi Rosenblum, The World History of Photography 3rd ed. (New York: Abbeville, 1997; ISBN 0-7892-0028-7), p.565.
3. ^ Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Frostbite (New York: Morgan & Morgan, 1978; ISBN 0-87100-143-8).
4. ^ ^{a b} Caleb Daniloff, "Arno Minkkinen: Naked, Cold, and On Camera", BU Today, February 28, 2008.
5. ^ Spirit Level (Westford, MA: RMR Press, 2008; ISBN 978-0-6151-8229-2).
6. ^ http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_art.asp?coll_keywords=minkkinen&submit.x=0&submit.y=0
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} Appears in Saga: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen.

External links

• Minkkinen's website
• Arno Rafael Minkkinen catalogue in artnet's Artist Works Catalogues

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