Hannaleena Heiska
Photo: Sara Ahde
Hannaleena Heiska’s paintings, drawings, video works and installations create illusions of captured moments, different worlds and subcultures. She makes her paintings in a single sitting, “alla prima”, striving to achieve brushwork that looks effortless and easy. This gives her paintings the feeling of being a fleeting moment, and a sort of nostalgia. The technique she uses while drawing resembles her way of painting, removing material from a blackened paper to create an image. Her imagery has moved from portraits of masquerade characters and anthropomorphic animal figures to characters and scenery from the film Blade Runner and has most recently been inspired by multiverses, artificial intelligence, the future and the possibility of life after death.
Hannaleena Heiska (b. 1973, Oulu) graduated from the Department of Painting at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2006. She was one of the artists nominated for the biggest art prize in Finland, the Ars Fennica, in 2011. Heiska has exhibited internationally, for example, at the 4th Ural Industrial Biennial, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 2017; Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg, 2015; Espace Louis Vuitton Gallery, Tokyo 2012; and the CAC – Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania 2010. Heiska’s works are represented in many significant public collections, such as Gothenburg Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, and EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art. Her videoworks have been shown at numerous film and media-art festivals in Europe. Her film Today We Live won first prize in the Helsinki Short Film Festival in 2013.
Exhibitions
1.10.-24.10.2021
8.7.-1.8.2020
3.8.-2.9.2018
3.6.-3.7.2016
7.8.-30.8.2015
8.3.-7.4.2013
Works
19
Aug 2021
17
Jun 2021
12
Apr 2019
08
Feb 2019
23
Aug 2018
NIGHT OF THE ARTS 23.8. | Gallery open till 9 pm | Pilvi Takala's solo opens in Kiasma | Open rehearsal: The Trace
Helsinki celebrates the Night of The Arts on Thursday, August 23Hannaleena Heiska: Camouflage at Helsinki Contemporary 3.8.-2.9.2018 Photo: Jussi TiainenHelsinki Contemporary's doors are open till 9 pm, welcome to immerse yourself in Hannaleena...
15
Jun 2018
14
Sep 2017
Hannaleena Heiska & Rauha Mäkilä at Galleri Thomassen in Gothenburg
Hannaleena Heiska: Untitled, 2017, oil on mdf, 130 x 120 cmRauha Mäkilä: April, 2017, acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas, 160 x 120 cmHannaleena Heiska and Rauha Mäkilä participate in a joint exhibition with Camilla Vuorenmaa...
24
May 2017
Heiska, Korkeila, Mäkilä, Rekula, Räisänen and Wuorila-Stenberg in Kunsthalle Helsinki's summer exhibition
Rauha Mäkilä: Gerli (2013). Photo credit: Ville LöppönenThe summer exhibition Me: Self-Portraits Through Time at Kunsthalle Helsinki opens shows more than 160 self-portraits from the end of the 19th century until present day....
16
Mar 2017
Group exhibition with six Finnish artists in Landskrona museum
Heidi Lampenius, Supernatural, 2016, acrylic and ink on canvas, 190 x 170 cm. Photo: Jussi Tiainen.Landskrona Museum in Sweden presents the first exhibition that showcases six Finnish contemporary art. Sensual Knowledge exhibits works by Hannaleena...
11
Nov 2016
Opening today: Hannaleena Heiska in a group exhibition in KNIPSU
Hannaleena Heiska participates in a group exhibition called True Will in KNIPSU.KNIPSU is an artist-run initiative in Bergen, Norway that operates as a local art space and a mobile arena, producing exhibitions, events, screenings, concerts, workshops...
03
Nov 2016
Hannaleena Heiska and Minna Tervamäki at EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
Photo: EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern ArtDance artist Minna Tervamäki and visual artist Hannaleena Heiska trace creativity in EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art's exhibition Touch. The Trace performance is a collaboration between the...
05
Oct 2016
09
Jun 2016
31
May 2016
Hannaleena Heiska and Sanna Kannisto in Summer exhibition in Galerie La Feronnerie
Sanna Kannisto: Days of Departure 3 (2015), pigment ink print, 55,5 x 96 cm / 78 x 135 cmHannaleena Heiska and Sanna Kannisto participate in the Summer exhibition Rencontres d’été in Galerie La Feronnerie in Paris, France,...
20
May 2016
21
Mar 2016
11
Feb 2016
Hannaleena Heiska in I Got You Under My Skin at Voipaala Art Centre
Hannaleena Heiska: Noodle Bar (2012), oil on mdf, 120 x 150 cm. Photo: Ville Löppönen.Hannaleena Heiska is one of 10 artists invited to the group exhibition I Got You Under My Skin at Voipaalan taidekeskus, curated by artist Petra...
30
Aug 2012
07
Sep 2012
08
Feb 2013
Hannaleena Heiska presented in exhibition Shine at Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall
Norway was one of the first countries to grant women suffrage in 1913. To mark the centennial, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall in Arendal, southern Norway, is presenting an exhibition Shine with five contemporary female artists: Vanessa Baird, Julie Nord,...
13
Feb 2013
Hannaleena Heiska, Jukka Korkeila and Miikka Vaskola in Turku Art Museum
The exhibition Collected Works at Turku Art Museum showcases their collection from the perspective of stories. The selection consists of approximately one hundred works, ranging from older literary favourites to personal narratives in contemporary...
01
Mar 2013
21
Mar 2013
19
Sep 2013
12
Nov 2013
Hannaleena Heiska and Pilvi Takala in Norwegian Kunsthall Grenland
An exhibition with Finnish video and media artists will be shown in Kunsthall Grenland's Project Room. Hannaleena Heiska and Pilvi Takala are among the presented artists. The exhibition is open 16.11.-22.12.2013.More information about the...
13
Nov 2013
Hannaleena Heiska's Today We Live wins 1st prize at Helsinki Short Film Festival
Still image from Today We Live (2013), Video, Sound, Duration 7.17"Hannaleena Heiska’s short film Today We Live has won the 1st prize in the series Experimental Movie at Helsinki Short Film Festival. Congratulations!See...
13
Feb 2014
11
Mar 2014
25
Mar 2014
06
Apr 2014
30
Apr 2014
30
May 2014
Hannaleena Heiska at 30th Hamburg International Short Film Festival
Hannaleena Heiska, still image from Today We Live, 2013, video, sound, duration 7.17"Hannaleena Heiska’s video Today We Live will be screened at the 30th Hamburg International Short Film Festival. The festival celebrates short films as an...
17
Jun 2014
15
Nov 2014
24
Nov 2014
08
Dec 2014
Hannaleena Heiska and Rauha Mäkilä in publication Taiteilijan elämänkulku
Hannaleena Heiska and Rauha Mäkilä are included in the publication Taiteilijan elämänkulku (The artist’s life course) by researchers Mikko Piispa and Mikko Salasuo. The publication is based on interviews with 29 artists from...
30
Sep 2021
19
Nov 2020
10
Jun 2020
15
Aug 2018
02
Aug 2018
07
May 2016
02
Jun 2016
22
Aug 2015
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