ARI PELKONEN
11/2024 / Joint exhibition, Academy of Fine Arts Gdansk , Gdansk, Poland
10/2025 / Solo exhibition Kunstverket Gallery, Oslo, Norway
Recent
6.-29.10.23 / To Unfold Colour, AMA Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
21. – 24.9.2022 / Showstopper, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
I avoid strict definitions and my artistic work is more reflective than declaring. I try to stage moments and hidden emotions that are not obvious, with images that work like a mirror for something in the viewer. My works can be seen as calm, still and melancholic.
Tiny gestures, fading impressions, hidden meanings and small drama that even a fragment of a human figure brings to the image fascinate me. In my works I explore people. My images reference to posing, traditions of portraiture and the many facets of identity. My works portray quiet figures that are often hiding or sneaking glances at the viewer. Still, they remain out in the open and readily available for the viewers eye to consume.
Beside the subject and theme, materials and techniques are the core of my artistic practise. I work in between medias combining woodcut printmaking with painting. My works incorporate the strengths of both techniques: the speed, spontaneity and haphazardness of painting as well as the slow focus of woodcutting. My works are combination of painted layers and carved and printed layers of woodcut. The layers can be seen as symbolic to the layers within my human figures.
As an artist I enjoy moving between my medias. It gives me endless opportunities to combine techniques and the thinking behind them. The carving of woodcut can serve to capture a snapshot of the fast and restless movement of a painter’s brush, or the woodcut can appear as imitating brushstrokes. In my works it is not always clear for the viewer where the painting ends and woodcut begins. Between the medias I´m able to question and expand the definition of printmaking and this vantage point has inspired me also towards video and spatial art.
ARI PELKONEN
Born in Pori, Finland 1978
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland
Studies
2007 MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, Finland
2004 BFA, Turku Arts Academy, Turku, Finland
2000 Satakunta Arts and Crafts, Graphic design studies, Nakkila, Finland
1998 Länsi-Pori kuvataidelukio, Pori, Finland
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Pori Printmakers gallery, Pori, Finland
2023 To Unfold Color, Gallery AMA, Helsinki, Finland
2021 Still Life, Gallery Himmelblau, Tampere, Finland
2020 Lavastaja, Gallery AMA, Helsinki, Finland
2017 Remain a Stranger, Aboa Vetus & Ars Nova Takkahuone, Turku, Finland
2016 Gallery Himmelblau, Tampere, Finland
2015 Visible Inside, Gallery AMA, Helsinki, Finland
2014 Printedpainted, Gallery Pictor, Nummela, Finland
2014 Remain a Stranger, Gallery G, Helsinki, Finland
2013 Whats the Story, Gallery Joella, Turku, Finland
2012 Young Artist of the Year 2012 -exhibition, Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland
2010 Forestfalls, Gallery Aarni, Modern Art Museum of Espoo, Espoo, Finland
2009 Wood Is Paint, Gallery G, Helsinki, Finland
2009 Black Light, Poriginal gallery, Pori, Finland
2008 Night Sight, Gallery Topelius, Helsinki, Finland
2007 Woods, Gallery Huuto, Helsinki, Finland
2006 Slower line, Glass Palace exhibition Space, Helsinki, Finland
2004 Mountain Lines, Gallery G, Helsinki, Finland
2004 Guest Room, Gallery Joella, Turku, Finland
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Maailman menoa – Works form Jenny and Antti Wihuri Collections, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2021 Showstopper, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2021 Err is Human, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä, Finland
2020 Recemblence Through Contact: Grammar of Imprint, EKA Gallery, Tallin, Estonia and Tartu Art House, Tartu, Estonia
2019 Graphica Creativa 2019, Jyväskylä Art Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland
2019 HIT-exhibition, Haugesund Billedgalleri, Haugesund, Norway
2019 Playing Grounds, Inka Bell, Inma Herrera, Päivikki Kallio, Suvi Sysi, Galleria G, Helsinki, Finland
2019 Summer Exhibition 2019 (With Ville Anderson, HC Berg, Samuli Heimonen, Nanna Susi, Niidome and Lautenbacher) Sysmä, Finland
2018 Private Archives/Yksityiset Arkistot, Jussi Juurinen, Ari Pelkonen and Tatu Tuominen, Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland
2018 IMPACT 10, Collaborative print project ”Devotions upon Emergent Occasions” (after John Donne) with KuvA Printmakers, Santander, Spain
2018 Toisia Todellisuuksia, Jyväskylän Art Museum, Jyväskylä, Finland
2017 Kasvotusten Summer Exhibition 2017, (with Kuutti Lavonen, Ville Löppönen, Heikki Marila and Sirpa Särkijärvi) Sysmä, Finland
2017 6th Ulsan International Woodcut Exhibition, Korea
2014 Helsingistä – Twelve Galleries Project, Providence collage Galleries,
2014 Providence, USA (with Valpuri Remling, Curator Jamilee Lacy)
2014 3rd Shanghai International Printmaking Exhibition, China Art Museum, Shanghai
2014 Meidän Katu, Vantaan Art Museum, Vantaa, Finland
2014 Helsingistä – Twelve Galleries Project, Western Exhibitions Gallery,
2014 Chicago, USA (With Valpuri Remling, Curator Jamilee Lacy)
2013 Vuoden nuoria taiteilijoita 1985 – 2012, Gumbostrand Kons&Form, Söderkulla, Finland
2012 Fire Grefiske Fortellinger, Gallery Kunsverket, (with Annu Vertanen, Tiina Kivinen, Jaana Paulus) Oslo, Norway
2012 Pritns Tokyo 2012, Tokyo, Japan
2012 Ikuinen kivi (with Matti Hintikka, Kuutti Lavonen, Anna Retulainen, Elina Sipilä, Kaisu Sirviö, Miikka Vaskolan kanssa) Savonlinna, Finland
2012 Retretti, Punkaharju, Finland
2012 Graphica Creativa 2012, Jyväskylä Art museum, Jyväskylä, Finland
2011 Finnis Printmakers 80 years – scholarship exhibition, Gallery Harmonia, Jyväskylä, Finland
2011 The 1st International Moguhanga Exhibition, Kyoto, Japan
2010 Puberty, Finnish Printmakers 80 years -Anniversary Exhibition, Salo Art Museum, Salo, Finland
2009 Young 2009 – Exhibition, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland
2009 Salon de Mai, Paris, France
2006 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Spring Exhibition, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland
Works in Collections
Awards and Nominations
2022 Public Art work, Kuopio University Campus, Kuopio, Finland
2016 Public Art work, Senaatti -properties, Helsinki, FI
2014 Garnagie painting competition nominee
2013 SGN Group, Prize in Young Printmakers print portfolio
2012 Queen Sonja Print Award nominee
2011 Young Artist of the Year 2012 Nomination
2011 Finnish Printmakers 80 yars, Exhibition Scholarship
2009 Maecenas Guild Young Artist Award in NUORET09 exhibition
Teaching and Position of Trust
2023 – 2025 Member in Finnish State Art Collections
2021 Kankaanpää Art School, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences
2021 University of Arts Helsinki, Academy of Fine Arts, Lecturer, Printmaking responsible professors tasks
2021 Kankaanpää Art School, Satakunta University of Applied Sciences, Printmaking
2020 – 2022 Member of Finnish State Art Collections
2019 Turku Art Academy, Printmaking
2018 – 2021 University of the Arts Helsinki, Academy of Fine Arts, Lecturer and hour based teacher, Printmaking
2010 – 2012 University of the Arts Helsinki, Academy of Fine Arts, Tecnician and hour based teacher, Printmaking
2009 – 2010 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, department assistant, Printmaking
2005 – 2009 Kankaanpää Art School
2003 – 2004 Folk School of Southwest Finland
Memberships
Helsinki Artists’ Association
Finnish Woodcut Artists Society
Finnish Printmakers
Ari Pelkonen
+358 40 776 1165
aripelkonen@hotmail.com
