The exhibition presents important phases and turning points in the oeuvre of Heikki Marila (b. 1966), one of the most important Finnish painters of his generation, from the 1990s to the 2020s. New and previously unseen works are included.
The exhibition begins with Marila’s paintings from the 1990s, which deal with institutions of power, national identity and social structures. In the early 2000s, his attention turned to the tradition of German religious art and Matthias Grünewald’s Isenheim Altarpiece (c. 1516), from which Marila painted his expressive interpretations. Around the same time, Marila became interested in the tradition of still life and floral painting. The result was a series of paintings based on 17th century Dutch flower painting and its rich symbolism. This theme has remained central to the artist’s work. On the ground floor of the museum you can also see brand new flower paintings and a series of paintings in which Marila continues to explore the theme of power from a new perspective.
Marila’s highly expressive and material painting style, as well as his choice of subject matter, places him in the continuum of Western painting and art history. His work is characterised by seriality. The question of power in its various manifestations is a constant theme in Marila’s work. He has painted subjects considered trivial on a monumental scale and institutions of power on a miniature scale. Marila graduated from the Turku School of Fine Arts in 1991 and had his first solo exhibition that same year. A major milestone in his career was winning the Carnegie Art Award in 2011. Marila’s previous retrospective, Flowers and Devils, was shown at Kunsthalle Helsinki and Korjaamo Gallery, Oulu Art Museum and Wäinö Aaltonen Museum in 2014–15.
The exhibition at the Sara Hildén Art Museum continues the Sara Hildén Foundation’s series of presentations of artists from the collection.
