Helsinki Contemporary
Market Art Fair 2018

At Market Art Fair 2018 Helsinki Contemporary presents a curated duo of painter Eeva-Riitta Eerola and photographer Sanna Kannisto.

Both of the artists work on a very conceptual level and also with a controlled, sometimes minimalistic visual result. Working in series is typical for both of the artists.

Perception of the world is one of the bearing ideas for the presentation at Market 2018. The two artists both work with ideas around perception, seeing and positioning oneself in the world or within a specific context. Kannisto examines our relationship with nature and builds her images with small delicate variations. She uses a field studio to photograph birds and plants in constructed still lives. Kannisto observes her own position as an actor, but also the metaphors for seeing and the codes or scientific visualisation. Eerola in turn looks into questions of otherness and the gaze, and similarly to Kannisto she works with delicate and precious variations. Her body of work also explores the concept of perception and how we understand and experience images. Eerola works with a variety of subjects as her starting point, reconstructing them through the act of painting. Finding new readings of the works through juxtaposition is also part of the process.

Sanna Kannisto (b. 1974, Hämeenlinna. Lives and works in Helsinki) graduated from the University of Art and Design in Helsinki in 2002. In recent years, she has become one of the most successful photographic artists from Finland. She has exhibited around the world, in Europe, the USA and South America, e.g.: at Centre Pompidou in Paris, 2010; Le Château d’Eau, Toulouse, 2012; Aperture Gallery, New York, 2011; Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2013; and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, 2013. A retrospective monograph accompanied the exhibition at Aperture Gallery. Kannisto’s work is represented in several public collections abroad, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland, and in numerous collections in Finland such as the Saastamoinen Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma and the Finnish Museum of Photography. In 2015 she was awarded the State Price for Photographic Art in Finland.

Eeva-Riitta Eerola (b. 1980, Siilinjärvi. Lives and works in Helsinki) graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2010 and also studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-arts de Paris. She has exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad, e.g. at Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, in 2015 and Gallery Jaus, Los Angeles, 2014. Her work is represented in a number of Finnish public collections, such as those of the Saastamoinen Foundation, Sara Hildén Art Museum, and the Wihuri Foundation. In 2016 Eerola spent 6 months in the internationally prestigious ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) residence program in New York. Her previous solo show with Helsinki Contemporary was in 2017 and at the same time she held a collaborative duo with video artist Jenni Toikka in the Studio at Turku Art Museum.