AKI TURUNEN

I am a visual artist, focusing mainly on painting and drawing. I graduated as a Master of Fine Arts in the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2011 and I have been arranging exhibitions actively ever since that. I studied also in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.

My main solo exhibitions include the ones I have held in Forum Box Gallery in Helsinki in 2013, Gallery Huuto in Helsinki in 2014, Kluuvi Gallery / Helsinki Art Museum in 2015, Gallery Katariina in Helsinki in 2017 and the most recent one in Gallery Kenetti in 2018, also in Helsinki. My paintings are held e.g. in the collection of KIASMA, the Finnish Museum of Contemporary Art. I have participated in numerous group exhibitions, for example in the ´Forårsudstillingen Spring Exhibition´  in Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen.

Thematically my paintings oftentimes discuss art history in a way or another: Jewel-like snakes or mysterious queens have all cropped up on my canvases.  As for materials I employ older techniques, icon grounds and rare cobolt pigments. I aim for a profound tactility so that the viewer could enjoy my work also purely based on what there is to be seen. Spending a longer time in Italy feels ideal for my practice.

In Circolo I will be starting to create new paintings for my next solo show in Helsinki Contemporary gallery due late 2020. In addition to that I will be working on an annunciation themed libretto for composer Lauri Supponen’s piece. I am really looking forward to enjoying the Italian culture at large, meeting new people and to embarking on many day trips all over the country.

Above: Maria Imperatrix, 65cm x 54cm, Silverpoint, Beeswax and Oil on Icon 

Ground, 2018, Private collection, Aki Turunen // Photo by Filippo Zambon.