Olli Piippo

Olli Piippo's work is characterized by figurative elements that support a narrative, even if the pieces are mainly based on the experience evoked by the abstract expression. He bases his work on images that are both personal and found, true and generated by the imagination and memory. These are mixed together in the paintings, which play organically with representational and non-representational elements. In Piippo’s recent works we can find a shift from familiar, everyday elements towards their abstraction, approaching the painting process through materials and experimenting with them. The pieces exude a lightness that seems to well up straight from the core of the painting. The artist's work is driven by a playful escapism. He throws himself into the painting process, letting it feed itself.

Olli Piippo (b. 1980) lives and works in Helsinki and Berlin. Piippo’s most recent solo exhibition was Eight Notes on Oceanic Feeling, at Helsinki Contemporary in 2018. In 2016, he participated in the joint exhibition Guilty Pleasure at the gallery with Swedish artist Lukas Göthman. Piippo's works have been shown most recently in the Nordic countries and Europe, in Lachenmann Art in Konstanz and Kunstkraftwerk in Leipzig, Germany, and Gallery Thomassen in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is also known as the curator of Black Market, which organizes exhibition happenings and events. Art Slant listed him among the ‘15 international curators to watch’ in 2015.