Aki Turunen, FI

Aki Turunen (1983 Helsinki, Finland) lives and works in Helsinki.

Turunen graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2011, after also studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in the same year.

Amongst others, his works have been shown at Huuto Gallery (Helsinki), Kluuvi Gallery (Helsinki), HELSINKI CONTEMPORARY (Helsinki), and Helsinki Art Museum. His works can be found in collections such as KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art (Helsinki), Kriket Foundation (Berlin), Miettinen Collection (Berlin), The Finnish National Gallery, and The Finnish Art Association.

His works are based on a combination of intuitive, subconscious imagery and a profound knowledge of art history. By using traditional tools for his own purposes, combining a very personal painterly narrative with images taken from history, Turunen explores a shared human experience.

The artist has dealt in his work with signs of spring, jewel-like snakes glimmering at the bottom of the sea, nocturnal rainbows, and monk-like figures who, in their crowns, carry fantastical creatures, birds, spiders, dolphins, and flowers. Dragon charmers and saints, as well as pretty, delicate flowers and splendid butterflies, populate his wooden panels, canvases, and works on paper.

Aki Turunen’s monograph Butterflies Courting Dragons was published by SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY and HELSINKI CONTEMPORARY in 2023.