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At this year's CHART, Helsinki Contemporary is proud to present a curated booth with works by two Finnish artists, Leena Nio and Aki Turunen.

Both artists are rethinking and reimagining traditions and conventions of painting. Leena Nio’s detailed compositions of clothes and people are at the same realistic but also veer into abstraction, reworking conventions of portraiture and the still life. In his work Aki Turunen, combines subconscious imagery with references to art history. His deep knowledge of the tradition of painting is evident in his use of different techniques, such as tempera painting, and his subject matter that reference both mythology and history.

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ARTISTS

Leena Nio

Leena Nio's (b. 1982, Helsinki, lives in Espoo) skillful and detailed paintings are both concrete and conceptual, creating material and spatial illusions in the pictorial space. The layering and framing of an image are important elements in Nio's paintings. Her works are often tightly cropped portraits in which attention is drawn to details that initially seem irrelevant. The surfaces of fabrics or small trinkets are minor everyday observations, yet, at the same time, details that contain a whole life.

Leena Nio graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. In 2014 Nio was nominated for the Ars Fennica Prize. She has exhibited in Europe and the US. Her works are in the collections of eg. HAM Helsinki Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, and Sara Hildén Art Museum.


Leena Nio: Composition with a zip-up cardigan and treasured pieces (2025). Oil on canvas, 170 x 150 cm. Photo: Jussi Tiainen.



Aki Turunen

Aki Turunen’s (b. 1983, Helsinki, lives in Helsinki) paintings are based on a combination of subconscious imagery and a deep knowledge of art history. Turunen's interest in tradition causes him to position himself in a continuum both in his choice of materials and imagery. The recurring figures in his paintings are both symbolic and mythological; Turunen has dealt in his work with, for example, enigmatic dragons, volcanoes, butterflies and mysterious moonlight.


Aki Turunen: Convergence Talks (2025). Tempera on wood, 50 x 40 cm. Photo: Jussi Tiainen.



For more information:

Olli Piippo, Owner and Director, Helsinki Contemporary
+358 40 566 0636
olli.piippo@helsinkicontemporary.com

Katja Räisänen, Sales Director
+358 50 464 2911
katja.raisanen@helsinkicontemporary.com

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