Johanna Saikkonen

Johanna Saikkonen (b. 1998) lives and works in Helsinki.

Saikkonen’s practice centres on the human condition, with a pronounced emphasis on corporeality. Bathed in harsh light, skin pores and blood vessels are rendered with disquieting precision, while skin functions as a boundary between inner and outer worlds.

Saikkonen believes that human self-knowledge remains largely superficial. Through painting, she seeks to expose the less appealing emotions and aspects of humanity that people often strive to conceal. “For me, painting is above all an attempt to accept and understand,” she explains.

Her tightly cropped paintings are often based on photographs she has taken of herself, allowing her to critically scrutinise the image and interrogate the power of the gaze.

“More than painting itself, I am interested in the themes that can be addressed through it,” she adds.

Exhibition Freshly Painted 14.5.–30.8.2026