In her working process Anna Retulainen contemplates painting conventions and perceptions of painting. The subjects of her works are merely platforms for the application of paint; for finding a balance between movement, the layers of paint, and the vying between colours. Her paintings consist of details drawn from everyday life, from journeys real and imagined, or from the masterpieces of art history. Her style is expressionistic, and yet refined in a stylized manner. Above all, Retulainen is an exquisite colourist. The themes of her works vary from her beloved vegetable, fruit and flower still lifes, to more intimate drawings of her everyday life and those close to her. For Retulainen drawing is a way of living; it is her way of putting the world in its place. Only at her studio do the drawings become paintings, fusions of life and art.
Anna Retulainen (b. 1969, Orimattila) is one of the leading figures in Finnish contemporary painting. She has been showing works in solo and group exhibitions since 1995. She has twice been nominated for the Carnegie Art Award, most recently in 2014. In 2018, The Finnish Cultural Foundation's (SKR) Uusimaa Regional Fund awarded Retulainen with its annual 15 000 euro award for outstanding performance, and in the same year, Retulainen's paintings became the first contemporary artworks to be permanently presented at the Finnish Presidential Palace. Retulainen’s work is represented in most of the major Finnish public collections, as well as in countless private collections.
Anna Retulaisen akvarelleista kootun, taiteilijan signeeraaman kirjan voi hankkia gallerialta. Painos on rajoitettu.Kirja on Retulaisen kunnianosoitus pölyttäjille sekä selviytymistarina, todistus taiteen parantavasta...
In its annual ceremony on 16 May 2018, The Finnish Cultural Foundation's (SKR) Uusimaa Regional Fund has awarded its annual 15 000 euro award to visual artist Anna Retulainen, "an energetic seeker of memory traces, a chaser of a more colourful...
Anna Retulainen: Boukombe, apina, 2017, oil on canvas, 150 x 150 cmArtists Jukka Korkeila and Anna Retulainen participate in a group exhibition Pleasure at Helsinki Art Museum HAM. Running from August 25 through 12 November, the...
Jukka Korkeila and Anna Retulainen are part of the exhibition Pleasure at Serlachius museum Gösta in Mänttä 10.6.2017-4.11.2018. Three Finnish contemporary have intuitively selected the works that interested them from the Fine Arts...
Anna Retulainen and Tuomas A. Laitinen take part in Kiasma's new collection exhibition featuring altogether 27 artists. The chosen works represent multisensory art that might even get under your skin.The exhibition is open...
Let’s Get Physical: Spatial Confrontations and Narrative Collisions is a group exhibition that presents Berlin-based Nordic and Leipzig-based painters, among them Marcus Eek, Olli Piippo, Anna Retulainen and Janne Räisänen, at...
The second phase of the new Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection Exhibition Touch opens today at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. This phase called Humanity, Identity and body, presents different tools visual artists use for dealing with...
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