Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Tuska festival and Tiketti Galleria present a unique project at HAM corner by the most famous Finnish rock photographer, Ville Juurikkala. Juurikkala documents the legendary band HIM as they prepare for their farewell tour in his project titled "HIM: Right Here In My Eyes". In addition to this project, Tuska festival celebrates its twentieth anniversary with another exhibition by Juurikkala in the Tiketti Galleria — a wider selection of Juurikkala's photos portray the artists of this special year's festival, including AMORPHIS, APOCALYPTICA, HIM and SONATA ARCTICA. Juurikkala explains the exhibition's core idea: "The exhibition at HAM corner is a compilation of unforeseen photos — and this time I really mean photos not seen before. Even I haven't seen them yet, as the events I will be documenting take place in the near future. I'm starting the photoshoot with the band this week and the last frames will be shot during Tuska. "I started photographing HIM over a decade ago. I have since then worked with many international artists, including the likes of Slash of GUNS N' ROSES and Steven Tyler of AEROSMITH, but even those with much bigger sales are, in my opinion, nowhere near as charismatic as HIM. It is because of this unique charisma I feel the best of my old photos are those featuring Ville Valo and HIM. This view is backed up by all the feedback I've received from the people who've seen my work at exhibitions and elsewhere. Even so, we decided with Ville that we won't build up this exhibition on the old stuff. What really matters is the here and now." Added Ville Valo: "Ville Juurikkala is the best photographic hospice nurse for us: he's good, gentle and crude." Juurikkala's photos of various Finnish artists of this year's Tuska are at display in Tiketti Galleria. Besides HIM, the bands include LOST SOCIETY, BROTHER FIRETRIBE and SONATA ARCTICA. "The exhibition at Tiketti Galleria also includes a lot of interesting work," Juurikkala says. "There are some already famous shots (for example, the HIM picture from Tuska 20th-anniversary poster and another anniversary photo of APOCALYPTICA) but there will also be a lot of new work from the upcoming weeks. There are photos from Perttu Kivilaakso's wedding a few months back where APOCALYPTICA show a brighter side of the normally sinister band. There's also the brand new promo pictures of AMORPHIS's very new lineup. All in all, this is the most recent and unique compilation of work I've put together for an exhibition." All artwork at both exhibitions are for sale at Tiketti Galleria and online at www.tiketti.fi/galleria. Also the unique exhibition originals at HAM, signed by Valo and Juurikkala, are available via Tiketti. The "Tuska 20 Years" anniversary book (Like Publishing Ltd, available only in Finnish for now) and Tuska 20th Anniversary Collection jewellery are sold at Tiketti Galleria throughout the exhibition.
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