Maria Pääkkönen is a visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. She works with drawing, installation and durational drawing performance. The concentrated drawing process and the space in which it takes place play a significant part in her work. Her memory-based and often repetitive drawings construct spaces and atmospheres that hover over the imaginary line between material and immaterial worlds.
“The art of Maria Pääkkönen concerns itself with a reciprocal relationship between drawing and place. On the one hand is the drawing of the place – that which is observed, recorded, remembered, evoked. On the other is the place of the drawing – its physical presence within the confines of the gallery. Somewhere in between the two is the human body.” – Tom Jeffreys, writer and editor
Maria Pääkkönen
b. 1988 in Riihimäki, Finland
Studies
2013 – 2016 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, FIN (MFA)
2010 – 2013 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, FIN (BFA)
2007 – 2010 Free Art School, Helsinki, FIN
Solo Exhibitions
2020 Sumun maa, Galleria Uusi Kipinä, Lahti, FIN
2019 Distant And Vivid, Porvoo Art Hall, FIN
2018 Sea Dreams, Studio Kura, Itoshima, JPN
2018 Mountains Collapsing, B-galleria, Turku, FIN
2016 Entering Another Unknown Place, Ti-la2016, Jyväskylä, FIN
2016 Revisiting Unknown Places, Galleria Ratamo, Jyväskylä, FIN
2016 Revisiting Unknown Places, Galleria Huuto Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, FIN
Group Exhibitions
2020 Kosminen Salonki – summer sales exhibition, Kosminen, Helsinki, FIN
2017 Seeing Whales, curated by Chiara Ianeselli, Galleria Mazzoli, Modena, ITA
2017 Van Eyck Open Studios, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NLD
2016 SYYT, Union of Finnish Art Associations, Art Center Haihatus, Joutsa, FIN
2016 Kuvitella / kokea / kerääntyä, Vanhan Raatihuoneen galleria, Turku, FIN
2015 Kuvan Kevät – MFA degree show of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, FIN
2014 Sitting Quietly, Doing Nothing, Kuva/Tila (Exhibition Laboratory), Helsinki, FIN
2013 Drawing in the Flesh, Vantaa Art Museum, FIN
2013 Rum, Galleri Kakelhallen, Mariehamn, FIN
2013 Bachelors of the Universe, Galleria FAFA, Helsinki, FIN
2012 Size Matters, Kaiku gallery, Helsinki, FIN
2012 Kaamos, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, FIN
2012 Kaamos, Kaiku gallery, Helsinki, FIN
2008 Chinese Whispers, Pori Art Museum, FIN
Performances
2019 You Are I Am You, w/ Ingeborg Andersskog, Superb! -festival, Turku, FIN
2017 Just Drawing This Line, Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NLD
2014 Dancing On Ice, w/ Eetu Huhtala, Angakoq performance event, SIC, Helsinki, FIN
Residencies
2019 Residency in Utö, Kuvan residenssi ry, FIN
2018 Mustarinda, Hyrynsalmi, FIN
2018 Studio Kura, Itoshima, JPN
2016-17 Jan Van Eyck Academie, Maastricht, NLD
2016, 2015, 2014 Residency in Utö, Kuvan residenssi ry, FIN
2014 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts residency in Berlin, DEU
Workshops
2016 Nordic Studio: Clearcut, Rejmyre Art Lab, Kalbo, SWE
Grants
2021 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, project grant
2020 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, corona grant II
2020 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, corona grant
2020 The Paulo Foundation, working grant
2019 Finnish Cultural Foundation, mobility grant
2019 Finnish Art Society, Young artist grant
2019 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, project grant
2019 The Paulo Foundation, working grant
2018 Finnish Cultural Foundation, working grant
2018 The Paulo Foundation, working grant
2017 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, working grant
2016-17 Van Eyck Academie, residency grant
2016 Saastamoinen Foundation Finland, residency stipend
2016 Nordic Culture Point, mobility grant
2016 Arts Promotion Centre Finland, project grant
2015 Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, travel grant
Memberships
The Finnish Painters’ Union, candidate member
MUU Artists’ Association
Huuto/Mehiläispesä ry
Rajataide ry
Publications
2017 Exhibition catalogue: Seeing Whales, Galleria Mazzoli Editore, Modena
2015 Drawings and column in ÄÄRI magazine, No#1
Articles
https://www.ostnyland.fi/artikel/rumsliga-dikter-i-bildformat-fyller-konsthallen/
http://www.flashartonline.it/2018/02/seeing-whales-mazzoli-modena/
http://www.lost-painters.nl/van-eyck-open-studios-4/
http://www.metropolism.com/nl/reviews/30883_open_studios_van_eyck_2017
http://www.thelearnedpig.org/maria-paakkonen-revisiting-unknown-places/3306