Born 1982 in Helsinki, lives and works in Helsinki
In her paintings Leena Nio creates space layer by layer, covering over and revealing. She lays on and gouges out of her paintings both spatial and thematic depth. The unique, controlled technique that directs the working process generates an unpredictability. The relationships between surface and depth, exterior and interior become blurred. They lose their hierarchical status as the gaze weaves surfaces into spaces. As the gaze sinks in between the layers of paint, the familiar pictorial coordinates and realism cease to apply. The picture space comes alive, opens up towards us and away from us, both material and illusory.
In the paintings nature is simultaneously situated in the fence and behind it, in the shadows and in the window frames. And again, in the close-ups of the human figures the curls of hair become intertwined with images from the mental world that they conceal. Elsewhere, darning closes up the concealing knitted surfaces and meshes, and yet, at the same time, softens the systematic methodicality and the abruptness of the picture space that it creates. Nio’s paintings open up escape routes out of the picture frame – for the birds trapped in the paintings’ surfaces, for the gaze behind the headscarf, for the dimensions hidden inside the back of the head.
Taru Elfving
STUDIES
2010
Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, department of paintint, Master of Visual Arts
2004
Hyvinkää Art School
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Casual Orders, ANNAELLEGALLERY, Stockholm
2012
Mindscapes, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
Forum Box, Helsinki
2011
Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
2010
Galleria Huuto, Helsinki
2008
Gallery of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
Kesken kaiken, Kuva/Tila, Helsinki
Helmiä – Sara Hildén Foundation Collection, Sara Hildèn Art Museum, Tampere
Summer Show, Annaelle Gallery, Stockholm
Events in Nature, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
2012
Christmas Show, ANNAELLEGALLERY, Stockholm
2011
Spatial Places, Kuparipaja Fiskars
Kesä – Sommar – Summer, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
2010
The 10th Anniversary exhibition of Hyvinkää Art School, Promenadigalleria, Hyvinkää
2009
The Degree Show of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
Galleria Oksasenkatu 11, Helsinki, together with Rautiainen and Toikka
2008
Mobility Re-Reading the Future, Kaiku Galleria, Helsinki
Mobility Re-Reading the Future, International Triennial of Contemporary Art, National Gallery, Prague
Valvoja, Alkovi Galleria, Helsinki, in connection with Kiasmassa exhibition Fluid Street, together with Rautiainen and Toikka
2007
Valvoja, Lasiboxi, Helsinki, together with Rautiainen and Toikka
2006
Galleria Välivuosi, Helsinki, together with Rautiainen and Toikka
REPRESENTED
Helsinki City Art Museum
State art collection
Wihuri Foundation, Rovaniemi Art Museum
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
Saastamoinen Foundation, EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Finnish Academy of Fine Arts
AWARDS
2010
Ducat prize, Finnish Art Association
MEMBERSHIPS
Finnish Painters Union
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abstraktionens seger, Leif Mattsson, Omkonst 2013
Leena Nio – Casual orders, ANNAELLEGALLERY 2013
Smeksam storm av färg, Camilla Granbacka, Hufvudstadsbladet 4.9.2012
Maalarit tutkivat maalin ominaisuutta, Harri Mäcklin, Helsingin Sanomat 29.8.2012
Leena Nio – Mindscapes, Galerie Forsblom 2012, article: Taru Elfving
Ikuisten aiheiden äärellä, Timo Valjakka, Helsingin Sanomat 7.4. 2012
Mobility – Re-reading of the Future, Prague Triennial 2008
Notkea katu, Fluid Street, Kiasma 2008
Katsoa, nähdä maisema, Silvia Hosseini, Mustekala.info 2008
Muotoutuva maalaus, konteksteja ja kohtaamisia, Taru Elfving, editor Pilvi Kalhama 2006
