Anton Pitkänen is visual artist based in Helsinki, Finland. His mixed-media works bring together weaving, embroidery, painting and drawing, merging historical craft traditions with contemporary artistic expression. Inspired by Finnish cultural heritage as well as broader narratives from nature, science and popular culture, Pitkänen creates story-like works where colour and form are deeply tied to emotion and experience. His practise is characterized by a meditative, process-driven approach that opens a space for both personal reflection and collective resonance.
”My practise is rooted in the dialogue between traditional craft and contemporary art. I weave, knit, paint and embroider, creating layered surfaces where meditative repetition meets intuitive colour and imagery. Each work begins with a slow, prayer-like process of building structure - a rhythm of weaving or knitting that grounds the piece - and continues with painting and drawing that give form to the thoughts, words and visions emerging along the way. I am drawn to harmonies, tensions and contradictions between structure and freedom, silence and expression. My works become vessels of memory, renewal and hope, transforming craft traditions into a language for the complexities of life today.”
Anton Pitkänen
b. 1990 Oulu, Finland
anton.pitkanen@gmail.com
SOLO EXHIBITIONS –––––––––––––
Matkapäiväkirja, Virkki kotimuseo, Helsinki (FI) 2024
GROUP EXHIBITIONS –––––––––––
VALINTA, Galleria Toinen Silmä, Helsinki (FI) 2025
SWISSARTEXPO Artboxy booth, Zürich (CHE) 2022
Biennale Artbox Expo, Venezia (IT) 2022
Artboxy exhibition, Thomson Gallery, Zug (CHE) 2022
Artboxy exhibition, Lelie Galerij, Amsterdam (NLD) 2022
Artboxy exhibition, Urbanside Gallery, Zürich (CHE) 2022
THE HOLY ART: UBIQUITY & FLUIDITY, The Holy Art Gallery, London (UK) 2021
AD Art Show 2020 finalist exhibition, NYC (US) 2020
Art of Basware finalist exhibition, Helsinki (FI) 2019
ACHIEVEMENTS –––––––––––
CLIO award in contemporary art (US) 2020
Winner of AD Art Show 2020 (US) 2020
Art of Basware finalist (FI) 2019
FEATURED IN –––––––––––––
NORK Magazine Vol. 5 "Holy Cosmos" 2020
EDUCATION –––––––––––––––
Designer (BA), Lahti University of Applied Sciences (FI) 2016