Henni Alftan
Henni Alftan (b. 1979, Helsinki) is a Paris-based painter who creates pictures based on a complex process of observation and deduction. Working in figuration but rejecting a narrative dimension, Alftan’s compositions use the tight framing of close-range photography to explore the similarities between painting and image-making. “I paint pictures,” Alftan says, and “painting and picture often imitate each other.” Inviting viewers to consider the history, materiality, and objecthood of painting, Alftan’s vignettes represent a fragmented vision of the real and address pictorial issues such as color, surface, flatness, depth, pattern, texture, and framing devices.
Recent solo exhibitions include Karma, Los Angeles (2026, 2023) and New York (2024); Sprüth Magers, Berlin (2025) and London (2022); La Box, Bourges, France (2025); Artothèque de Caen, France (2025); and Longlati Foundation, Shanghai (2024) . Her work is represented in the collections of Amos Rex, Helsinki; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; Dallas Museum of Art; EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Helsinki Art Museum; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.
Photo: Marwen Farhat
Born 1979, Helsinki
Lives in Paris
EDUCATION
2004
MFA, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris
2001
BFA, École pilote internationale d’art et de recherche, Nice, France
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2026
Karma, Los Angeles, ABC
2025
Artothèque de Caen, France, Immobile
Galerie La Box, Bourges, France, O de Giotto
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, By the Skin of My Teeth
2024
Karma, New York, Stop Making Sense
Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, House of Mirrors, curated by Sun Wenjie
2023
Karma, Los Angeles, Visitor
2022
Sprüth Magers, London, Contour
2021
Sprüth Magers, Berlin, Night-time
2020
Various Small Fires, Seoul, with Dike Blair
Karma, New York
2019
Studiolo, Milan
2018
TM-Galleria, Helsinki, Horizon
2017
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, One Sweet Moment Z
Gallery Arts, Vancouver, Shadows in the Mirror
2016
Galleria Sculptor, Helsinki, The Missing Picture
Iconoscope , Montpellier, France, Entrevu
2015
Forum Box Monttu, Helsinki, Enlighten
2014
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2013
Galerie Anhava Studio, Helsinki
2012
Galleria Huuto Viiskulma, Helsinki, Série noire
2011
Gallery Artists’Studio, Helsinki, Two Shadows
2007
Galerie de la Ferronerie, Paris, Henni Alftan & Susanna Majuri, Histoires singulières
2006
Pollen/Monflanquin, France, L’art de s’échapper
Les Bains Douches, DAC Antibes, France
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Pace, London, Monument for the Unimportant
Hämeenlinna Museum of Art, Finland, Strike a Pose – Scenes from Our Collections
Malta International Contemporary Art Space, Floriana, Colour Form and Composition: Milton Avery and his enduring influence on contemporary painting
Shinsegae Gallery, Seoul, About Painting: Salvo, Andreas Schulze, Henni Alftan
Frac-Artothèque Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Limoges, France, Paysages recommencés
Centre Pompidou-Metz, France, Copyists
2024
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Infinite Regress: Mystical Abstraction from the Permanent Collection and Beyond
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
Claire Gastaud, Paris, The garden of earthly delights
FLAG Art Foundation, New York, The Swimmer
Amos Rex Museum, Helsinki, I feel, for now
2023
Kunsthalle Zürich, Monotypes, Edition VFO
Sprüth Magers, Seoul, Mondi Possibili
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland, Dialogues
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki, Ars Fennica 2023
2022
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami’s Collection
Perrotin, Paris, Finger Bang
Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Dark Light: Realism in the Age of Post-Truths, curated by Massimiliano Gioni
Acquavella Galleries, New York and Palm Beach, Unnatural Nature: Post-Pop Landscapes
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined
2021
Albertz Benda, New York, Fragmented Bodies III
À Cent Mètres du Centre du Monde, Perpignan, France, Les Apparences
2020
Nassima-Landau Project, Tel Aviv, High Voltage
Balice Hertling, Paris, Gennariello (part II)
Karma, New York, (Nothing but) Flowers
ENSA Limoges, France, Clichés-Peintures, paintings from the collections of FRAC-Artothèque du Limousin
2019
Karma, New York, Henni Alftan, Matt Hilvers, Ruth Ige, Andrew Sim
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, Collection 7
2018
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, A Desired World – contemporary drawings
Kajaani Art Museum, Finland, The Vexi Salmi Collection
Galerie Detais, Paris, Rêver deux printemps
Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland, People in Focus; works from the Heino foundation collection
Galerie Henri Chartier, Lyon, J’aime, by Marion Bataillard
2017
Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Finland, Color and Form – works from the Vexi Salmi collection
Musée des beaux-arts de Brest, France, Les retrouvailles, curated by Guillaume Pinard
Musée des Beaux-arts de Dole, France, Peindre, dit-elle- Chap.2, curated by Annabelle Ténèze, Julie Crenn, and Amélie Lavin
2016
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, J’ai des doutes, est-ce que vous en avez?, curated by Julie Crenn
Galleria Lapinlahti, Helsinki, Virus
Lappeenranta Art Museum, Finland, Frenzy of collecting: Works from the Veksi Salmi Collection
2015
Exhibition Laboratory, Helsinki, Cinematic Senses, curated by Ville Laaksonen
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, Collection 6
Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki, Shift In The Shadows; Works from the Collection
2014
Villa Emerige, Paris, Voyageurs, the nominees for Révélations Emerige, curated by Gaël Charbau
Galerie Claire Gastaud, Clermont-Ferrand, France, Collection 5
Lahti Museum of Art, Finland, Intohimona taide; Works from the Vexi Salmi Collection
2013
Purnu Art Center, Orivesi, Finland, Effect, curated by Petri Eskelinen
le 6b, Saint-Denis, France, Un rembrandt comme planche à repasser
Lahti Museum of Art, Finland, Valon houkutus
2012
le 6b, Saint-Denis, France, Moite, one-night-show, curated by Maxime ThieffineFotographic center Nykyaika, TR1 Kunsthalle, Tampere, Finland, Present ruins, curated by Harri Laakso, Anni Venäläinen, and Anna Jensen
Backslash Gallery, Paris, Family & Friends
2011
Backslash Gallery, Paris, Le royaume et l’exil
2011 Tecla Sala Art Center, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona
2010
Museu Municipal Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Amarante, Portugal
Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg, Austria
Pecs Art Exhibition Hall, Hungary
Bratislava City Gallery, Slovakia
Klaipeda Exhibition Hall, Lithuania
Villa Croce & Sala Dogana, Genova, Italy
2009
La Maladrerie, Auberviliers, France, MOHLL’148/homestudioshow, curated by Florentine and Alex Lamarche Ovize
Galerie de la Ferronnerie, Paris, Hauts en couleurs
Montrouge, France, 54e Salon d’art contemporain de Montrouge, curated by Stéphane Corréard
Montrouge, France, Biennale Itinérant de la Jeune Création Européenne
2008
Galerie de la Ferronnerie, Paris, L’oeil de Poisson
2007
Parcours Contemporain, Fontenay-le-Comte, France, A la surface de l’eau
2005
Galerie Alain Le Gaillard, Paris, L’oeil du touriste, Paris for ever
Frédéric Giroux, Paris, L’oeil du touriste, La Tour Eiffel n’a jamais été aussi belle
Galerie Passage de Retz, Paris, Première Vue
2004
Espace Console & Galerie Pitch, Paris, L’instant d’avant
Musée Zadkine, Paris, Valse
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Amos Rex, Helsinki
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York
By Art Matters, Hangzhou, China
Dallas Museum of Art, Texas
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain Limousin, France
Hämeenlinna Museum of Art, Finland
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Heino Art Foundation, Helsinki
Helsinki Art Museum
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art, Maine
UBS Art Collection
PUBLICATIONS
2022
Henni Alftan
Karma, New York
2021
Henni Alftan Dike Blair
Karma, New York/Various Small Fires, Los Angeles
2020
Henni Alftan
Karma, New York
2019
Henni Alftan, Matt Hilvers, Ruth Ige, Andrew Sim
Karma, New York
