Vesa Loikas

Dancing is like walking in a sense that in its basic level it is ingrained in us. Everybody has danced at some point in their lives in one form or another. Dancing is also a form of expression and for some people dance becomes their own language and vocabulary. This dance vocabulary is a serious study of the art of dance and also a study of themselves in relation to the environment and people around them. This photo book is about those wonderful and energetic dance artists as I have captured their dance vocabulary in their chosen environments in four cities around the world.This series was started when I received an artist residency in New York City in March of 2013 by the Finnish Art Council and The Dance Centre of Western Finland.In addition, I was honored to be able to include essays about dancing itself, the visual aspects about dance, and the environment around us that shapes our movement in our every day lives by four different contributors.

I make observations about my home town daily, as I commute by bicycle over one thousand kilometers per year along the river. In this book I turn these observations into photographs that hopefully you will find interesting and inspiring.ART I MAKE book series consists of collections of my photographs which are chosen and curated around a subject matter or location of my interest. This series was born from my desire to present to a larger audience my joy of photography and also something that could inspire people in their own creative journeys.

Ancient sea floor bedrock hills and fallen trees are covered with slow growing moss formations in the Baltic archipelago around the town of Nauvo. Documenting these small and large natural forms and landscapes has been my passion for the last two decades. This book is a collection of these often intimate and fragile scenes for you to explore.

I am creating a moment for the viewer, to study the composition, and while taking a breath, create comparisons and juxtapositions, explains Loikas. It was like jazz and interaction with the dancers, where the communication was done by body language and movement rather than words and thoughts. We found a common groove, which exhibits itself with great results and timeless moments. Loikas photographed moments of dance, which became two-dimensional compositions, kind of human statues in different environments. The result where a moving dancer becomes still and dissolves into the surroundings, particularly interests him. He is also interested in how environment and architecture influence human senses and behavior. The photographs were created while Loikas received an artist residency in New York in 2013 by the Finnish Art Council and The Dance Centre of Western Finland.