Henni Alftan
Henni Alftan (b. 1979, Helsinki, Finland) 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 Longlati Foundation, Shanghai (2024); Karma, (New York, 2024, Los Angeles, 2023); Sprüth Magers, London (2022); Karma, New York (2020); Studiolo, Milan (2019); and TM-Galleria, Helsinki (2018). Her work is represented in the collections of the Amos Rex, Helsinki; Dallas Museum of Art; EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Helsinki Art Museum; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa, Finland; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among others.
Alftan’s exhibition House of Mirrors is currently on view at Longlati Foundation, Shanghai, through January 18, 2025.
Photo: Marwen Farhat
Born 1979, Helsinki, Finland
Lives and works in Paris
EDUCATION
2004
MFA, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, DNSAP
2001
Exchange student at The Edinburgh College of Art, United Kingdom
2001
BFA, Ecole Pilote Internationale d’Art et de Recherche de la Villa Arson, DNAP, Nice, France
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
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’s Studio, Helsinki, Two Shadows
2007
Galerie de la Ferronerie, Paris, Henni Alftan & Susanna Majuri, Histoires singulières
2006
Pollen/Monflanquin, France, L’art de s’echapper
Les Bains Douches, DAC Antibes, France
Selected Group Exhibitions
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
Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Finland, Dialogues
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland, Ars Fennica 2023
2022
Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Florida, Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami’s Collection
Perrotin, Paris, France, Finger Bang
The Aïshti Foundation, Beirut, Lebanon, 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
LACMA, Los Angeles, Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined
2021
Albertz Benda, New York, Fragmented Bodies III
Sprüth Magers, Online, GO FIGURE?
À Cent Mètres Art Center of the Center 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, Limoges, France, Clichés-Peintures, paintings from the collections of Frac-Artotheque 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, Kajaani 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, by Guillaume Pinard
Musée des Beaux-arts de Dole, France, Peindre, dit-elle- Chap.2, curated by Annabelle Ténèze, Julie Crenn & 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, Lappeenranta, 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, Lahti, 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, Lahti, Finland, Valon houkutus- Allure of Light
2012
le 6b, Saint-Denis, France, Moite, one-night-show, curated by Maxime Thieffine
Fotographic center Nykyaika, TR1 Kunsthalle, Tampere, Finland, Present ruins, curated by Harri Laakso, Anni Venäläinen & Anna Jensen
Backslash Gallery, Paris, Family & Friends
2011
Backslash Gallery, Paris, Le royaume et l’exil, curated by Gaël Charbau
2009-2011
Montrouge, France, Biennale Itinérant de la Jeune Création Européenne; Museu Municipal Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, Amarante, Portugal; Tecla Sala Art Center, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain; Villa Croce & Sala Dogana, Genova, Italy; Galerie im Traklhaus, Salzburg, Austria; Pecs Art Exhibition Hall, Hungary; Bratislava City Gallery, Bratislava, Slovakia; Klapeida Exhibition Hall, Lithuania
2009
La Maladrerie, Auberviliers, France, MOHLL’148/homestudioshow, curated by Florentine & Alex Lamarche-Ovize
Galerie de la Ferronnerie, Paris, Hauts en couleurs, curated by Pia Setälä
Montrouge, France, 54e Salon d’art contemporain de Montrouge, curated by Stéphane Corréard
2008
Galerie de la Ferronnerie, Paris, L’oeil de Poisson
2007
Parcours Contemporain, Fontenay-le-Comte, A la surface de l’eau
2005
Galerie Alain Le Gaillard, Paris, L’oeil du touriste, Paris for ever, curated by Jeanne Truong
Galerie Frédéric Giroux, Paris, L’oeil du touriste, La Tour Eiffel n’a jamais été aussi belle, curated by Jeanne Truong
Galerie Passage de Retz, Paris, Première Vue, curated by Michel Nuridsany
2004
Espace Console & Galerie Pitch, Paris, L’instant d’avant
Musée Zadkine, Paris, Valse
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Collection Clérmont Métropole, France
Dallas Museum of Art
EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo, Finland
FRAC (Fond regional d’art contemporain) Limousin, France
Hämeenlinna Museum of Art- Vexi Salmi collection, Hämeenlinna, Finland
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Heino Art Foundation, Helsinki
Helsinki Art Museum
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
JNBY Art Center, Shanghai
Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art – Swanljung collection, Vaasa, Finland
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Portland Museum of Art, Maine
UBS Art Collection
AWARDS
Stina Krooks stiftelse, Finland
Frame Finnish fund for art exchange, Finland
Arts Promotion Center Finland, Finnish State
Swedish Cultural Foudation in Finland, Svenska Kulturfonden
Young Artist Grant, Finnish Art Society
Finnish Fund for Culture, Suomen Kulttuurirahasto
Alfred Kordelin foundation, Finland
Kone foundation, Finland
Oskar Öflund foundation, Finland
Pollen Association des Artistes en Résidence à Moflanquin, France
prize, Prix Diamond, Ensb-a, France
CNASEA, Délégation régionale Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
Nominated for prix Révélations Emerige 2014, France
CNAP- soutien à la première exposition, France
CNAP- soutien à la première publication, France
RESIDENCIES
Gyeongju International Residency Art Festival, Gyeongju Arts Center, South Korea
International Studio and Curatorial Program, The Finnish Institute, New York
Lietsalo-project studio of Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, Helsinki
Salzburg Kunstverein, Künstlerhaus, Austria
Kone foundation, at Saari manor, Finland
Pollen Association des Artistes en Résidence à Moflanquin, France
PUBLICATIONS
2020
Henni Alftan
Text by Jeff Rian, Hermione Hoby, Elizabeth Buhe
Karma, New York
284 pages, hardcover
10 1⁄2 × 11 1⁄4 inches
2019
Henni Alftan, Matt Hilvers, Ruth Ige, Andrew Sim
Karma, New York
78 pages, softcover
11 × 8 1/2 inches
Edition of 500
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Circumference Magazine
Issue 8
NYFA, New York
142 pages
