Award winner 2001

Heli Hiltunen

Born 1960 in Heinola, Finland. Lives and works in Helsinki.

The Ars Fennica prize, an annual award for the visual arts given by the Henna and Pertti Niemistö Art Foundation, was awarded to Finnish pictorial artist Heli Hiltunen in April 2001. The winner was chosen from among five Finnish artists. The choice was made by Gijs van Tuyl, director of the Wolfsburg art museum. The award comprises a cash prize of FIM 200 000, exhibitions in Helsinki and Oulu and a publication on the winning artist's oeuvre.

Heli Hiltunen works primarily with series of works, where smaller works of art are combined into larger entities. Hiltunen's subjects are often connected with memory, love and sensual closeness. The works represent documentation of her own life and her family history, but are also the means for storytelling. In her most recent paintings, Hiltunen focuses on landscapes. The works may originate from a childhood memory or a photograph of a seemingly in-consequential puddle. In the hands of the artist, things change, become fragmented and distanced from their originals. Heli Hiltunen's brush-strokes have a fascinating ambivalent nature: while they are physical and sensual, they also have an airy, disembodied quality, something which is further emphasized by many different shades of a distinguished grey. The result is a timeless landscape glowing with a matt, intense light, as though seen through a veil.

Exhibitions
Amos Anderson Art Museum 13.10.-18.11.2001
Oulu City Art Museum 8.12.2001-27.1.2002