Nina Roos

Nina Roos, Melancholia 2021-22
oil on canvas
240 x 200 cm

In Wihuri Foundation Collection

A deeply insightful artist with a distinct voice, NINA ROOS creates art that is a broad and sustained investigation of the essence of painting and its spatial dimension – a surface that acts as a boundary between two spaces or realities. Roos is fascinated by how paintings affect us bodily rather than through the information provided by the image.

Nina Roos (b. 1956) is an internationally renowned painter and one of the leading Nordic artists of her generation. She is a graduate of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, where she also served as professor of painting from 2001–2004. Roos is the recipient of the Pro Finlandia and Prince Eugen medals. She received the Carnegie Art Award in 2004, and she represented Finland at the Venice Biennale in 1995. Roos has had extensive solo shows at Lund Konsthall (2019), Moderna Museet in Stockholm (2009), Malmö Konsthall in (2003) and Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki (2001). Roos’s works are in a number of important collections in the Nordic countries, such as the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Malmö Art Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma.

The Image is Collapsed into the Body
10 Aug – 3 Sep 2023

Installation view
Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Beekeepers 1, 2021
From the diptych Beekeepers 1-2
oil on canvas
130 x 130 cm

The Image is Collapsed into the Body
10 Aug – 3 Sep 2023

Installation view
Photo: Jussi Tiainen

The Image is Collapsed into the Body 4, 2022-23
oil on canvas
130 x 130 cm

The Image is Collapsed into the Body
10 Aug – 3 Sep 2023

Installation view
Photo: Jussi Tiainen

The Image is Collapsed into the Body 2, 2022
oil on canvas
175 x 185 cm

BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

A deeply insightful artist with a distinct voice, Nina Roos creates art that is a broad and sustained investigation of the essence of painting and its spatial dimension – a surface that acts as a boundary between two spaces or realities. Roos has said that she is fascinated by how paintings affect us bodily rather than through the information provided by the image.

The shapes in the highly layered works of the Liminal Space series are seen through a kind of surface, as if a membrane or veil intervened between the viewer and the motif – and that is, in fact, the subject of the work. One of the sources of inspiration for the exhibition is Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 16th century drawing Beekeepers. Roos expands the strange and ambiguous view to create large, dimly shimmering surfaces and shapes filled with tension. Her Beekeepers diptych shows a sturdy human figure depicted with sculpture-like rigidity, as if the mass inside were protruding to establish the tautly curved outlines of the body. The stiff figure embodies a mood charged with menace.

When faced with paintings composed of surfaces and shapes held by tension, it is at times difficult for the viewer to tell whether one is looking at something very large or something very small. Although there are identifiable motifs in the works, such as the trunk or branch of a tree, or a clean incision or an eye, the open and flexible character of the paintings can also be seen as a key feature alongside the motifs. There is room to roam in the images.

The overall palette builds into an almost pale, monochromatic, breathtaking surface, with reddish, brown and purple tones. In the large painting Melancholia, one can see references to Albrecht Dürer’s etching and the Lars von Trier’s film of the same name, while the dark, circular form in the work seems to be floating in some sort of a soft, intangible space.

Nina Roos’s paintings make one want to stay a moment and observe. They exist like some kind of fascinating creatures whom one wants to spend time with.

CV

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NINA ROOS

Born 1956, Porvoo, Finland
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland

EDUCATION

1983–1988 The Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
1982 Grundskolan för konstnärlig utbildning, Stockholm
1975–1979 University of Helsinki

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2023
    • The Image is Collapsed into the Body, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
      • The Image is Collapsed into the Body, Galleri K, Oslo
  • 2020
    • Lucid, Kunsthalle Kohta, Helsinki
  • 2019
    • In the Habit of Hearing, Galleri K, Oslo
    • Regarding the Point of Restraint , Lunds konsthall, Lund
  • 2016
    • The Cut, Galleri Thomas Wallner, Simris
  • 2015
    • Inside Outside and Beside, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • Balancing, Galerie Mansart, Paris
  • 2013
    • situated/ separated, Galleri K, Oslo
    • Galleri Gro, Campus Allegro, Pietarsaari
    • Nina Roos and Astrid Svangren, Galleri Örsta, Kumla
  • 2012
    • Borders, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
  • 2010
    • shades, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2009
    • Kunstnernes Hus (together with Jasper Just and Edvine Larssen), Oslo
    • passage, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen
    • Nu/Now, Moderna Museet, Stockholm
  • 2008
    • Positions and Reversals, Galleri K, Oslo
    • Galleri Arnstedt & Kullgren, Östra Karup
    • 2007 infinite points, Galerie Anhava, HelsinkPaul Petro Contemporary Art (together with Peter Bowyer), Toronto
  • 2005
    • Galerie Anhava, Studio, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku
  • 2003
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Shifting Spaces: A Rapid Touch, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö
    • Excursion into the slightest of Signs, Nina Roos and Anne-Karin Furunes, Galleri K, Oslo
  • 2002
    • Bergen Kunsthall, Galleri no 5, Bergen
  • 2001
    • Läpi kuvien/Genom bilder/Through Images, KIASMA, Museum for Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 1998
    • Nina Roos and Paula Modersohn-Becker, Brandts Klaedefabrik, Odense
    • Galerie Gebauer, Berlin
    • Paul Petro Contemporary Art, Toronto
  • 1997
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 1996
    • Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm
    • Yoshii Gallery, New York
    • Gallery Jutempos, Vilnius
  • 1995
    • Galerie Gebauer u. Günther, Berlin
  • 1994
    • Galerie Gebauer u. Günther, Berlin
    • Nina Roos–Jussi Niva, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
  • 1992
    • Galleri 11, Reykjavik
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 1991
    • Galleria Sculptor, Helsinki
    • Galéria Arkad, Budapest
  • 1990
    • Fiskars Museum, Fiskars
    • Galleria Johan S., Porvoo
  • 1989
    • Galleri Decorum, Stockholm
  • 1988
    • Galleria Katariina, Helsinki

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2025
    • Eye in Eye, Kristiansand Kunsthall, Kristiansand
  • 2023
    • Art in Space, Space in Art, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
  • 2022
    • Rippling, K-U-K, Trondheim
    • Subterranean, Amos Rex, Helsinki
  • 2020
    • La Musée, Galerie Italienne, Paris
  • 2018
    • Prime Matter, Arsenale, Riga
  • 2017
    • Wither the Winds, Lunds konsthall, Lund
    • The Cloud of Unknowing, Värmlands konstmuseum, Karlstad
    • Temporary Futures Exhibition, M HKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerp
  • 2016
    • With Love Heino, HAM, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
    • Painting Failures, Moderna Museet, Malmö
  • 2015
    • The Nordic Miracle Revisited, Galleri F15, Moss
    • Prime Matter, Teckningsmuséet, Laholm
  • 2014
    • Here/Now, Artipelag, Stockholm
  • 2013
    • Channelled, Lunds Konsthall, Lund
  • 2012
    • Konst i förvandling, Amos Andersons konstmuseum, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Reflective Shadows , Ordrupgaard
    • Spatial Places:The Poetry of Place, Copper Smithy, Fiskars
  • 2010
    • False Recognition, Contemporary Art Center, CAC, Vilnius
  • 2009
    • Annorlunda verkligheter, Konstakademin, Stockholm
  • 2008
    • The Continental Unconcious, KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn
    • Image and After, KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • Kuudes kattaus/Sixth Setting, HoviArt, Anttolanhovi
  • 2007
    • Transparent, Granary, Fiskars
  • 2006
    • Galleri Arnstedt & Kullgren, Östra Karup
    • I Love Malmö, Turku Art Museum, Turku
  • 2006
    • Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
    • Connecting People, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen
  • 2005
    • Kabusa konsthall, Ystad
    • Ten foreign artists, Galleri K, Oslo
    • Arjen murtumia/The Fracture of Life, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 2003
    • Carnegie Art Award, 2004 – Nordic Painting, First prize, Konstakademien, 04 Stockholm; Listasafn Kópavogs, Kópavogur; Kunsternes Hus, Oslo; Charlottenburg, Copenhagen; Victoria Miro Warehouse, London; Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki
    • Prophetic Corners, Periferic Contemporary Art Biennial, Iasi
  • 2002
    • Grace – Nordic Contemporary Art, Samling Saltarvet, Fiskebäckskil
  • 2001
    • Interface, Göteborg Konstmuseum, Gothenburg
    • Sur Face, Lunds Konsthall, Lund
    • Surface and Whirlpools, Borås Konstmuseum, Borås
    • The 366/2000 project , Muka Auckland
    • Hockey Flowers, Works from the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation Collection at Rovaniemi Art Museum, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 2000
    • Sonic Eye, with Marianna Uutinen, Yle-Radio Event, Helsinki
    • Europe: Different Perspectives in Painting, Museo Michetti, Palazzo San Domenico, Francavilla al Mare
    • Painterly, The 11th Vilnius Painting Triennal, Contemporary Art Centre, CAC, Vilnius
    • Under the same sky, Vuosaari, KIASMA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 1999
    • Red Shift: Painting in and out of focus, Trapholt, Kolding; -00 Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki; Kjarvalsstadir, Reykjavik; Centrum for Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, Rotterdam
  • 1998
    • Carnegie Art Award 1998 Nordic Painting, Konstakademin, Stockholm; -99 Sophienholm, Lyngby; Stenersensmuseet, Oslo; Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki
    • Nedbruten, Storkyrkan, Stockholm
  • 1997
    • Das erweiterte Feld: Transformation des Bildes, Kunstverein München, München
    • Ikkuna, peili, Kunsthalle, Helsinki; Arsenale, Riga
  • 1996
    • Above/Below the Surface, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst, Antwerpen; -97 Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • Konst i hem-miljö, Nordic Institute for Contemporary Art, Helsinki
  • 1995
    • The Image of Europe, Nicosia
    • XLVI Biennale di Venezia, The Nordic Pavilion, Venice; Rostock Kunsthalle, Rostock
    • Galleri Wang, Oslo
    • ARS 95, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • 1994 Tidsanda II, Malmö Art Museum, Malmö
    • X/Y, Turku Art Museum, Turku; Oulu Art Museum, Oulu
    • The Nordic 90’s, Stockholm Art Fair, Stockholm
  • 1993
    • Ihanku, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Selections , Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • Prospect ’93, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt
    • Privat, Galleri F15, Moss
  • 1992
    • Rakkautta raunioilla/Love in the Ruins, The Museum of Modern Art, Tampere
    • Touch, Villa Roma, Turku
  • 1991
    • The Image is the final Path, Sergei Diaghilev Museum, St. Petersburg
    • Aurora 4, The Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki; Kulturhuset, Stockholm
  • 1990
    • The Seoul Art Festival, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
    • Abject, Galleri Enkehuset, Stockholm; The Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki
    • 1+1+1, Pyynikinlinna, Tampere
  • 1988
    • The Factory of Fiskars, Porvoo

PUBLIC COMMISSIONS

2022 Interior design of a hotel room, Hotel AX, Jätkäsaari, Helsinki
2013 Parallel, Campus Allegro, Pietarsaari
2012 Life is Echo and Answer, Altarpiece, The Church of Shadows, Chengdu
2006 Fall I och II, The Library, University of Gävle, Gävle
1998 University of Vaasa, Vaasa
1992 Wasa Insurance, Stockholm

COLLECTIONS

Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
Apoteket AB, Stockholm
ArtPace, San Antonio
Niemistö Collection, Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Hämeenlinna
EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo
Carnegie Art Award, Stockholm
Gothenburg Art Museum, Gothenburg
HAM, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
Heino Foundation, Helsinki
Kistefos museum, Kistefos, Norway
KIASMA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Malmö Art Museum, Malmö
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
The National Public Art Council, Stockholm
Paulo Foundation, Helsinki
Pro Artibus Foundation, Helsinki
Saastamoinen Foundation, Espoo
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Swanljung Collection, Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa
Telenor, Oslo
Turku Art Museum, Turku
The City of Vantaa
The Foundation of Serlachius Art Museum, Mänttä
Wihuri Foundation, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi

PRIZES AND HONOURS

Commander of the Order of the Lion of Finland medal, Finland 2020
Prins Eugen medal, Sweden 2009
Pro Finlandia, 2007
First Prize, Carnegie Art Award, Sweden 2004
Second Prize, Carnegie Art Award, Sweden 1998
The Edstrand Foundation Art Prize, Sweden 1995

TEACHING

2006 – External Tutor, Malmö Art Academy, Malmö
2004-07 Supervisor, Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme
2001-04 Professor of Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
1996-01 External Tutor, Malmö Art Academy, Malmö
1998 Visiting Professor, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm