Artist statement
I am a painter based in Tampere (b. 1998). I create spatial environments from watercolor paintings, in which these large-scale paintings, light, and ceramics form a unified whole. I am interested in how painting can expand from the surface of paper into an installation.
A sense of melancholy is often present in my work, which I explore through plants and motifs from nature, without seeking to depict them literally. Although I feel that plants are an overused subject, this is precisely what gives me the freedom to appropriate their visual language in a surreal way. People have a constant need to return to nature and to seek metaphors for themselves within it. I construct bodies of work from watercolor paintings that form spatial environments.
Watercolor painting has been at the center of my practice since my student years. When I first began working on large-scale watercolor paper, my understanding of the material changed: I no longer saw it as a small-scale painting technique, but as a contemporary art medium capable of creating spatial experiences. What fascinates me about watercolor is its balance between control and chance, as well as the way pigment glows against the white paper, making light an active part of the work.
Picture by Joël Petzold
Curriculum vitae
Education
2017 - 2021 Free Arts School, painter studies
2014 – 2017 Visual Arts School of Helsinki, Upper Secondary School
Associations
2025- Rajataide
2022- Painters union
2021- Tampere artists association
Solo exhibitions
2026 Art Center Mältinranta (Studio), Tampere
2026 Gallery Rajatila, Collapse & burn, Tampere 2026 Pispala Clothing, The lonely berry trees, Tampere
2025 Gallery Uusikuva, Exposure, Kotka
2025 Gallery Uusi Kipinä, Aperture, Lahti
2024 Gallery Seinä, Garden of growth pains, Helsinki
2024 Gallery Jänis, Portal, Turku
2023 Cerma Art Store & Lounge, Nocturnal Eternity, Helsinki
2023. P-gallery, Night Bloomers, Pori
2022 Gallery Snow, Shadow effect, Berlin
2022 B-gallery, How’s the weather?, Turku
2022 Gallery Rajatila, Under surface, Tampere
2021 Studio Gallery Rio 11, Move me, Helsinki
2020 District Court Helsinki, Painting of the month, Helsinki
2020 Café bar no 9, Memoir, Helsinki
2019 Gallery Vaaga, Deeper than the surface, Helsinki
Selected group exhibitions
2026 Kaarisilta Triennale, Lahti
2025 Akvarell Nu, Voipaala Art Center, Valkeakoski
2024 Himmelblau, Deep echoes, Tampere
2024 Kohokukkia studio, Finnish Spirit- Flourishing tunes, Helsinki
2024 Lokal Gallery, Versot, Helsinki
2024 Galleria Toinen Silmä, Valo, Helsinki
2023 Himmelblau, Other time, Tampere
2023 Space, Positions and directions, Helsinki
2023 Valvegallery, Tampere artists associations group show, Oulu
2022 Lapinlahteen lähde, Identity-group show (Finnish spirit), Helsinki
2022 Gallery Snow, Collection Show Vol. 1, Berlin
2021 Puristamo, degree show, Helsinki
2021 Living room in Shopping centre Redi, On your own, Helsinki
2020 Gallery Vaaga, Start of an ending, Helsinki
2019 Jyväskylä City Theatre, Young arts, Jyväskylä
2018 Sanomatalo, Lovely woman (Roosa nauha- fundraising exhibition), Helsinki
2018 Gallery Vaaga, First year, Helsinki
2017 Gallery Vaaga, The smallest common nominator, Helsinki
2015 Aleksanterinkatu empty business space, Forest²- installation, Helsinki
Grants
2024 Tampere City, grant for professional artist
2022 6-month grant for artistic work, Art Promotion Centre Finland
Awards
2026 Alli and Alla Salo Foundation, exhibition scholarship (Art Center Mältinranta)
2020 The Finnish cultural editorial, Faces from the quarantine (selection of the jury in the professional series)
Publications
2026 ROHEE- magazine, artist interview
2026 Mention in Antique & design- magazine (7/2025)
2025 Free Art School 90v. publication book
2025 Behind the canvas - book by Joël Petzold (artists number 40)
2023 Exhibition review of Night Bloomers, Satakunnan kansa
2021 Galleria Snow, artists
2021 Free Art School's ´21 catalog
2020 The Finnish cultural editorial, Faces from the quarantine
Works in collections
-
National gallery of Finland
-
Gallery Snow
-
Private collections
-
Café Bar No 9 collection
Other responsibilities
2026-2027 Exhibition comittee of Mältinranta
2021 - 2025 Café bar no9, exhibition curator