Johanna Saikkonen’s paintings depict tightly cropped faces and body parts. She paints skin expressively, emphasizing veins, pores and hair. The intensive works reveal realistic moments, presence. Her figures are living and substantial, devoid of actual idealising.
Saikkonen works from photographs and often uses herself or people close to her as models. The human figure occupies the center of the canvas and almost always dominates it in a way that allows the viewer to see only a fragment of the body. The tight, even claustrophobic cropping of the figures underscores Saikkonen’s interest in the individual’s limited point of view: one cannot escape one’s own field of experience. Her works frequently engage with the human inner world and with the forces driving people to act as they do. “This ultimately leads to the question of whether a person controls their flesh, or the flesh controls the person; as if the two could even be separated,” Saikkonen notes.
Through her painterly mark-making, Saikkonen foregrounds the fundamental materiality of human existence. Her brushstrokes are gestural yet precise and clearly defined. They convey a strong sense of physical presence that feels honest and truthful, demonstrating how spontaneity and control can coexist. Intense colours invite the viewer to consider the subject through a dense and layered approach. The richness of tonal nuances reinforces the thematic complexity of the subject. Saikkonen appears to observe her figures calmly, without idealization. The layering seems to reveal an emotional rawness that evokes associations with, among others, Egon Schiele’s and Lucian Freud’s figures and their way to examine the body in a reflective and existential manner. Saikkonen’s technique allows for an uncompromising and direct depiction of the human body. The most essential qualities of the works are closely tied to corporeality: even the human inner self and mind are presented as manifestations of flesh.
Saikkonen has studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of the Uniarts Helsinki and at Orivesi College. Her works have been exhibited at e.g. Amos Rex Museum in Helsinki as well as in gallery exhibitions in Finland and abroad. Saikkonen’s works are included in several private collections. In 2024, she was awarded the NOBA – Nordic and Baltic Young Artist Award.
