Born 1976 I Lives and works in Pepino, Spain
Riiko Sakkinen is known for his drawings and paintings highlighting the world’s economic and social problems. Sakkinen uses characters and products from popular culture, turning the product’s message on its head. “In a perfect world, I’d be unemployed as an artist,” says Sakkinen, meaning that without the world’s social problems he would have nothing to criticize, and hence nothing to paint.
Sakkinen has delved particularly into the stark realities and contradictions of modern economic conflict, drawing inspiration from Warren Buffett’s piercing observation: ”There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” His paintings explore e.g. the battlegrounds of class struggle in contemporary society.
Through his visual narratives, Sakkinen critiques the mechanics of power, wealth, and the perpetual conflict that underpins the global economy. Sakkinen interrogates the nexus of capitalism, examines the rise of China’s communist millionaires who straddle the divide between ideology and wealth, and depicts the illusionary nature of crypto currency as elaborate coin tricks that veil deeper truths. Sakkinen presents the inevitable and shockingly ridiculous nature of the consumerism and the ultimate motif which in turn brings the responsibility also to the public. The visual catalogue he uses might be a significant and meaningful reminiscent to the viewer, yet the dystopian world he creates is a shattering reminder of the possible destruction of mind and matter.
