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= Toni R. Toivonen = Toni R. Toivonen (b. 1987) is a Finnish contemporary artist. He is best known for his gold-hued brass works created by composing animal carcasses on sheets of brass and letting the process of rotting oxidize the brass. A dead animal’s body breaks down and ceases to exist, but it still leaves its presence. What you see "is not an image of the animal - it is the animal and it's last presence".

He is the father of the technique "oxidation by decomposition of a dead animal".

Toivonen works with multiple mediums. The common theme in all his works is presence/last presence and the dualistic nature of life. In his process Toivonen uses animals that have passed away by a natural death and are not killed for the sake of the artwork.

Context
Toivonen's works are difficult to categorize. His animal-brass-works have been compared to e.g. analog photograph (Antti Nylén in "Johdatus Filmiaikaan" ISBN:9789522344236). More often he is referred as a conceptual painter. (Marcel Duchamp). Toivonen says that for him "The art exists mostly within the process" and that the art works could be called "relics of the action", or a place of action. (Hermann Nitsch). Toivonen himself calls his process "a counter-act for today's post-internet and digital art movement, seeking for something concrete (and presence)".

Art Studies
Toivonen studied at the University of Applied Scienses - Arts' Academy (Turku Finland) and graduated 2012 (BFA, majoring in Painting). In 2016 Toivonen did his masters degree at The University of Arts - Academy of Fine Arts (Helsinki Finland ) (MFA, majoring in painting).

Career
Toivonen’s work has been exhibited in Finland, London, New York, Krakow, Trieste etc. and his work can be found in public collections such as the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Handelsbanken Art Society SWE, the Saastamoinen Foundation, the Sara Hildén Museum of Art, the Heino Art Foundation Collection, Vantaa Art Museum Artsi etc. Toivonen has won The Art of Basware 2014 global competition, held for artists under 30 years old.

Toivonen in represented by Galerie Forsblom, (Helsinki and Stockholm).

He lives in the middle of a forest somewhere in Finland. He has a wife and two children.