Leinonen re-appropriates logos and brand identities that are already familiar to us to criticise consumerism and draws attention to global products' functionalities and marketing strategies. "There are products for all ideologies... Products and the brands that represent them have an amazingly large part in our lives, and that is why it is interesting to use them in art. To tell the kind of stories with them that the global conglomerates don't want to tell, says Leinonen" (www.kiasma.fi/nayttelyt-ja-ohjelmisto/jani-leinonen/).
Leinonen's art is great precisely for the fact that it forces us to think about our every day companions (the brands) in the true context of their consequences; for example, Hunger King counter imitating a real burger joint reminding us about the repercussions of cheap fast food catering for the poorer part of the society.
In the School of Disobedience the brand characters aren't just marketing marionettes, though. Leinonen re-appropriates them to be activists teaching the audience about being critical of the media and becoming aware of the unconscious mechanisms of marketing as well as the cultural catalogue (stereotypes) marketing draws on to describe the world to us.
Jani Leinonen's art definitely has its place. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that School of Disobedience should be a compulsory part of kids' education today. But pop art is somewhat hollow, there's no escaping that. The common problem with it using images already so known to us is that they very easily become cliches that we pass by just like we pass by advertising or the million different products available to us in an any given grocery store every day. In comparison to many of the art pieces in Face to Face, the other exhibition at Kiasma at the moment, Leinonen's work lacks the "air of mystery" or humanity of the portraits there have, but then, I guess that is making a point, too. And it sure is interesting to see how Jani Leinonen's art evolves in the future! Where can he go from Ronald, Tony "the frosty sugar flake" Tiger and the other buddies?
