Logpile

Lanu Park in Lahti was built between 1989 and 1992. The city of Lahti commissioned a total of 12 sculptures from Olavi Lanu to be placed in the deciduous Kariniemenmäki forest. The starting point of the sculptures was the body of work Lanu created for the Venice Biennale in 1978, entitled Life in the Finnish Forest, in which he explored the relationship between humanity and nature in various ways. Cast in concrete at the Renkomäki gravel pit, the sculptures in the park imitate natural materials. Blending in with their surroundings, the sculptures were all sited by the artist himself.

Olavi Lanu (1925–2015) was a visual artist, teacher and prominent figure in the Lahti art scene.

As its title suggests, Logpile depicts a pile of slender pruned tree trunks. The work was cast in a mould made from tree trunks the artist found in the woods on bike rides. Logpile is an almost abstract work, and yet the ends of the trunks form a barely discernible seated human figure. The dominant element of the work is the ribbed and cell-like surface texture, which in addition to its visual impact offers a tactile appeal. If you look closely enough at the surface of the concrete work, you can see the traces of sawing and cutting.

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In Lanu Sculpture Park. – Kariniemenpuistotie 49, Lahti.
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