photo: Jouko Vatanen
Born in Rauma, Finland 1952 | Lives and works in Helsinki
In his paintings, Jarmo Mäkilä combines historical and contemporary elements together with rich, baroque-like expression. The starting point is autobiographical: the themes usually revolve around the journey from childhood to adulthood and the acceptance of the past. Within the forest scenery, finely detailed drawing combines with expressive painting, while the interiors, respectively, contain photo-like quality refinement and clear composition displaying scenes of stage play.
The political movements and radical atmosphere of the late 1960s and early 1970s were reflected in Mäkilä's early work. His ability to couple images from the media with mythological themes made him one of Finland's most significant postmodern artists. Later influences on Mäkilä's expression included art history, comics, and images from the rock-n-roll and film industries. In his 40-year artistic career, Mäkilä's work has been widely exhibited in galleries, museums, and art fairs worldwide. He studied at the University of Helsinki's School of Art and Design and the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. Mäkilä was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal in 2002 and a Carnegie Art Award nominee in 2011. Mäkilä's artworks have been collected by all major art museums in Finland, as well as by foundations, institutions, and private collections around the world.
Galerie Forsblom has been representing Jarmo Mäkilä since 1985.
Jarmo Mäkilä's sculpture will be permanantly in display in Kulttuurikasarmi
Watch the video where Mäkilä talks about his art and the current show
Artist Jarmo Mäkilä is participating in the Nordic Noir exhibition at the Gallen-Kallela Museum. The exhibition is an encounter of six Finnish and Norwegian artists.
The exhibition brings out different perspectives on the concept of peace.
Jarmo Mäkilä is featured in the recently published fictional novel L'Art Des Interstices by the French painter, author and art critic Pierre Lamalattie.
Jarmo Mäkilä’s retrospective is on view at Sara Hildén Art Museum in Tampere until May 28.
In a career spanning over four decades, you have gained recognition as an extraordinarily gifted painter and draftsman. Over the years, you have reinvented your style many times: early in your career, you combined contemporary motifs with allusions to art history, and in the 1980s you drew inspiration from the masks of popular culture. Your recent work seems to fall somewhere between realism and surrealism.
Jarmo Mäkilä, Leena Nio and Reima Nevalainen take part in the group exhibition Dark Days, Bright Nights: Contemporary Paintings from Finland at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City. The exhibition, curated by Barbara O'Brien, executive director Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, explores the methods, inspirations and practice of Finnish painters.
