Johanna Saikkonen’s paintings depict tightly cropped faces and body parts. She paints skin expressively, emphasizing veins, pores and hair. She speaks on the subject: “I intentionally exaggerate the fleshiness of the figures in my paintings. Growing up it was pivotal for me to realize that humans don’t actually consist of a soul and a body, but simply of a body, and that the rest is wishful thinking and us looking for a meaning somewhere where it may not be found.”
“Black Hole” at Makasiini Contemporary is Saikkonen’s first solo exhibition. Saikkonen works based on photographs, often using herself or those close to her as models. Nostrils, ear canals and pupils gaping wide and black are recurring motifs in the paintings. The artist explains: “The dark gleaming from inside the body is like a hint at how we can only know parts of ourselves and others. Because just like there’s nothing I understand about the mechanisms of the universe, there’s only so much I understand about the mechanisms of my body. I will never see or know the insides of it – and still it holds the only reality I know.”
Saikkonen lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts at Uniarts Helsinki in 2024.
