Sweet Escape
Essu Koskinenʼs Sweet Escape invites viewers to see a familiar animal in a new light.
Opening: Wednesday, 2 September 2026, 5–7 pm, Galleria Aarni
The exhibition will be opened by doctoral researcher and non-fiction author Tiina Ollila.
Music will be provided by Tuukkavaltteri.
Cocktails will be served.
A warm welcome to the opening reception and to experience Sweet Escape!
Essu Koskinenʼs new exhibition Sweet Escape presents oil paintings in which everyday animals, flowers, and mushrooms become part of a dreamlike and poetic world. On view at Galleria Aarni from 2–27 September 2026, the exhibition creates spaces where the real and the imagined overlap, and where the chicken assumes a new role — not as a commodity, but as an individual, a caregiver, and an active participant in its own world.
In Koskinenʼs paintings, humans, animals, and vegetation intertwine. Nests, petals, mushrooms, and feathers recur throughout the imagery as symbols of nature’s cycles, fragility, and interconnectedness, yet the works do not offer a single correct interpretation. Sweet Escape constructs a world in which sensitivity, transformation, and imagination are given space to flourish.
″I portray chickens as colourful, fairy-tale-like, and mysterious figures. To me, they are individuals through whom it is also possible to reflect on the human relationship with nature, care, and other living beings. It is fascinating to see what kinds of thoughts and interpretations they evoke in viewers,″ says Koskinen.
In Koskinenʼs distinctive painterly language, visible brushwork and the layered quality of paint form an essential part of the expression. Strong colour contrasts, organic forms, and a free, expressive handling of paint create an atmosphere in which recognisable imagery and the materiality of painting coexist side by side. Sweet Escape invites viewers to slow down, look more closely, and encounter familiar beings with new eyes.
Essu Koskinen (b. 1972, Hagen) is a painter whose oil paintings create dreamlike worlds inhabited by animals, humans, and vegetation, where the cycles of nature, care, transformation, and symbolic imagery intertwine. Her intuitive working process, emerging from an inner dialogue and exploration, is reflected in layered paintings in which birds, nests, flowers, trees, and mushrooms appear as recurring motifs. At the core of Koskinenʼs artistic practice are the poetic qualities of painting, the visible brushstroke, and atmosphere — her works invite viewers to pause and engage with nature, other living beings, and their own inner experiences.
Koskinenʼs distinctive visual language is most recognizable in the combination of fairy tale, psychological landscape, and free painting.In addition to painting, Koskinen works with photography, printmaking, and poetry. She graduated as a painter from the Free Art School in 2014, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Turku Arts Academy in 2020, and completed her Master of Arts degree at Aalto University in 2026. She has held numerous solo and group exhibitions, and her work has been supported by several grants.
Artwork above: Essu Koskinen, Sweet Escape, oil on mdf, 82×62 cm, 2026
