Saara Ekström

A lush bouquet of dark blue and white flowers in a glossy black vase, placed on a red stool against a deep purple background.
A black modern chair against a tiled wall, with a bouquet of white lilies placed on its seat.
A bouquet of green and purple flowers arranged in a vase on a small black table against a gray background.
Abstract art display featuring a geometric glass sculpture on a mirrored surface with concentric circles, a draped gray fabric, and two wooden sculptures, one floating above and one beside the table.
A tall black glass filled with a dark liquid on a glossy black table, accompanied by a pair of shiny, black, metallic-looking leaves.
A large piece of wood resembling a tree trunk stands on a wooden floor against a beige wall adorned with abstract geometric tape art and a small nautical-themed decoration.
A minimalist setup featuring a white metal shelf with various white vases and dishes, accompanied by black rocks, against a light green wall with yellow sticky notes.

Saara Ekström

Born: 1965, Turku, Finland

Biography and Information

Biography
Saara Ekström (b.1965) assembles natural and artificial materials to create her own hybrid form of surrealism. Influenced by 17th century Northern European still life paintings, Ekström’s photographs examine the transient nature of earthly matter and exude a timeless quality that seamlessly blends traditional with contemporary. This series focuses on domestic objects that we encounter daily but rarely truly observe. Tilting trashcans, plastic chairs, fresh flowers, and other common items are re-contextualized to form peculiar cinematic compositions. Her sophisticated color palette is inspired by unremarkable objects — rubber bands, sewer tubes, and insulation foam.

Ekström was a 2014 resident artist at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York, and she currently lives and works in Turku, Finland. 

Solo Exhibitions
2014
Careless Water, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

The Ever Changing Portrait, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland

Method of a Cloak, Teos, Helsinki, Finland

Atalante,Gothenburg, Sweden

2013
Hortus Conclusus, Turun Castle, Turku, Finland

2012
Serial Sevens, with Francesca Verunelli and Kristiina Helin, Extreme – The 56th International Festival of Contemporary Music, Venice, Italy

Serial Sevens, with Francesca Verunelli and Kristiina Helin, Stuttgarter Sommerfest, Musiktheater, Stuttgart, Germany

Faraway, Helsinki City Art Museum, Kontti, Helsinki, Finland

Limbus, Åland Museum of Art, Mariehamn, Finland

2011
Limbus, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Limbus, Kuntsi, Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland

Rosario, Turku Castle, part of the Turku 2011 European Capital of Culture, Finland

2010
Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (2 person exhibition with Stuart Frost)

Excess and Ascesis, Gallery Kalhama&Piippo, Helsinki

2009
Changers, Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan

2008
A Single Charm is Doubtful, Galerie Centrum, Graz, Austria

Liquid Life, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

Explaining Darkness, Turku Art Museum, Studio, Turku, Finland

2007
No Body, gallery Ama, Helsinki, Finland

Nothing Elegant, HIAP – Project Room, Cablefactory, Helsinki, Finland

Invisible, 300 m3 Art Space, Gothenburg, Sweden

2006
Gallery Husa, Tampere, Finland

2005
Visitation, Gallery Artina, Helsinki, Finland

Grotesque & Arabesque, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland

2004
The Last Branch, Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland

Taste me, Gallery Ama, Turku, Finland

2003
Mnemonic, Pori Art Museum, Finland

2002
Mothers of Pearl, Gallery Husa, Tampere, Finland

2001
Flight, Gallery Kari Kenetti, Helsinki, Finland

Nursery, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland

faith/hope/charity, Retretti Art Center, Punkaharju, Finland

2000
Seascape, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

1999
Rosary, project room X, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

Skin in Bloom, Kakelhallen, Mariehamn, Åland

1998
Carnation, Gallery 54, Gothenburg, Sweden

A Rose is Sorrows, Galleria G, Helsinki, Finland

1997 Hanging Gardens, Turku Art Museum, Finland

Bonded, Northern Arizona University Art Museum, AZ, USA

1996
Votives, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Anatomy of Love, Galleria Titanik, Turku, Finland

Fragments, Gallerie Slunkariki, Isafjord, Islanti

1994
l’adoration, TML-Galleria, Helsinki

Group Exhibitions
2014
ISCP open studios, Brooklyn, NY

2013
The Seventh Wave – Wihuri and Visual Art, Lönnström Art Museum, Rauma, Finland

A Line in Water, Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää, Finland

2012
Alice in Wonderland, ECCO, Espacio de Creación Contemporánea, Cádiz, Spain

Festival Voles Off Aries 2012, Family Business – La Photographie du Nord en 3 actes, Aries, France

The Seventh Wave – Wihuri and Visual Art, Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland Taste and Form, Fiskars, Finland

2011
Reflective Shadow, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark

Alice in Wonderland, Logomo/ The Finnish Museum of Photography, Turku, Finland (catalogue)

Sijamuotoja, Purnu Art Centre, Orivesi, Finland

Halikoniahti Green Art, Salo Art Museum, Salo, Finland

Flower!, Daislands Art Museum, Åsensbruk, Sweden

2010
Carnegie Art Award: Listasafn Islands, Reykjavik, Island; The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm, Sweden; Kunsternes Hus, Oslo, Norway; 796 Art Space, Bejing, China; Royal College of Art, London, England; Kunsthalle, Helsinki, Finland

Reykjavik Art Festival, Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland

Memory Traces, Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; Galerie Kuma, Berlin, Germany

Art Paris + Guests/ Gallery Kalhama&Piippo Contemporary, Grand Palais, Paris, France

2009
Carnegie Art Award 2010, Kunsthalle Charlottenburg, Copenhagen, Denmark

Glow, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, USA

Finnish Contemporary Art, Gothenburg Art Museum, Sweden

Four Finnish Cut Outs, Borås Art Museum, Borås, Sweden

Performances, Savonlinna Temporary/Kalhama&Piippo Contemporary, Finland Surface – Turku Biennial, Ars Nova & Aboa Vetus, Turku, Finland

Ecology of the Emotions, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä, Finland Visuell Förvirring, Åland Art Museum, Mariehamn, Åland, Finland

2008
Incertitude de la Vision, Tour&Taxis, Brussels, Belgium

Persistance Des Rêves, Bibliothèque Mériadec, Bordeaux, France
Visible – Invisible, Vaasa and Gothenburg Art Museums, Finland and Sweden
Nature, Dalslands konstmuseum, Sweden
VIEW08 – Festival of Finnish Media Art, Andorra, Helsinki, Finland
Brave New World, Galerie Mánes, Prague, Czech Republic
Blooming, Pro Artibus, Elverket, Tammisaari, Finland

100% Finlande, Bibliothèque Mériadec, Salle d’exposition, Bordeaux, France

Festart08, Tampere Film Festival, Tr1, Rautahalli, Tampere, Finland

The Flower, Kuopio Art Museum, Finland 

2007
Sighing, Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Dunedin, New Zealand

Wild – fantasy and architecture, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland

Come Ashore, 12th international Environment Art Symposium,

Geoje Art Center, South Korea

Transparent, Fiskars, Finland

Conversations, Kerava Art Museum, Finland

In Between, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

2006
Light and Shadow, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Japan

Ephemeral – a flash for eternity,  Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Japan

Drawing Lust, – drawing in digital times, Kunsthalle Lophem, Belgium 

Beneath the surfice, The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn, Sweden

2005
Faunomania, Röda Sten, Gothenburg, Sweden

Light Treatment, Wäinö Aaltonen Museum, Turku, Finland

Sediments, Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland

2004
Buitenspel, GEM – The Hague Museum of Contemporary Art, Netherlands

Love Me or Leave Me, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Finland

The Garden of Eden, Helsinki City Art Museum, Finland

2003
Night Train, Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland

2002
Ars Fennica 2002, Hämeenlinna and Lappeenranta Art Museums, Finland 

2003
Natur, The Nordic House, Reykjavik, Iceland

2001
Sub Rosa, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark – Södertälje Art Hall, Sweden 

2000
Happiness, Union Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands

1998
Tangents, Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia

Collect, Union Quartair, The Hague, Netherlands

1997
Growth, Turku Art Museum, Finland

1996 
 Womens´ International Exhibition, Gallery Soho20, New York, USA

Matrix International ’96, Matrix Gallery, Sacramento, CA, USA

1995
Nordic Drawing Triennal, Sweden and Norway

1994
Paradise and Suffering, South Carelian Art Museum, Lappeenranta, Finland

1993
Crime Passionel, Gallery Fabriken, Gothenburg, Sweden 

Public Work Strömberg elementary school, Sockenbacka, Helsinki

Arcada Nova, Helsinki

Tietotalo, Tampere Technical University, Tampere

City Library, Turku, Finland

OAMK, Polytechnic University, Oulu

Collections (In Finland, unless otherwise mentioned)
Åbo Akademi
Amos Anderson Art Museum
Ars Fennica, 2002
City of Kaarina
Collections of the Finnish State
Collections of the Swedish State
Göteborgs Konstnämnd, Sweden
Helsinki City Art Museum
Kuopio Art Museum
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma
Nordic Watercolour Museum, Sweden
Northern Arizona University Art Museum, Flagstaff, AZ
OP Bank Group, Turku
Paulo foundation
Pori Art Museum
Pro Artibus
Saastamoinen foundation
Sampo-group
Tampere Art Museum
Turku Art Museum
Turkun and Kaarina congregation
Wäinö Aaltonen Museum
Wihuri Foundation

Awards
2014
ISCP, New York, NY

2011
The Environmental Structure of the Year

Honourable mention for the public work Refrain, Turku, Finland

2010
Nomination for Carnegie Art Award, Sweden

Wihuri Foundation, studio award, Helsinki, Finland

2009-13
Arts Council of Finland, 5-year working grant

2009
Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo, Japan

2008
Cultural City Network, Graz, Austria

2007
HIAP, Helsinki, Finland

2006
Aomori Contemporary Art Center, Aomori, Japan

2003
Villa Lante, Rome, Italy

Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, NY

2002
Ars Fennica Prize

1996
Matrix international exhibition, USA

1995
Finnish Art Foundation

1995
Stina Krook Foundation

1994
Aboa-award

Press
2014
Melyssa Laurent, Saara Ekström: Careless Water, Local IQ, October 28

Saara Ekström: Muuttuva Muotokuva, Ikahu, July 28

2013
Michael Petry, Nature Morte: Contemporary Artists Reinvigorate the Still-Life Tradition, Thames & Hudson, (cover)

2011
Saara Ekström, Limbus, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma

2005
Tutta Palin, The Smiling Patograph, Grotesque & Arabesque

Patrik Söderlund, Beneath the Tamarind Tree, Grotesque & Arabesque

2004
Petr Rehor, Ornamentti on kuvakieli, Taide, Art-Print Oy

2003
Tomas Träskman, Mnemonic, Pori Art Museum publications, Koteva

2002
Berndt Arell, Still life – life with death in it, Ars Fennica, Art –Print Oy,

Robert Storr: Ars Fennica Exhibition, www.arsfennica.fi 

Charlotte Brandt, Pia Thunholm: Sub Rosa – Flowers in Contemporary Nordic Art

2001
Love, Eroticism, Happiness and Unhappiness, Fihl-Jensen Grafisk Produktion A/S

2000
Tuula Karjalainen, Berndt Arell: Seascape / Om ingenting är svårt, hur skall du kunna känna lättnaden, tror du?, Koteva

Press Release

2014 Careless Water at Richard Levy Gallery

Ekström