Jyrki Siukonen Finnish, b. 1959

Jyrki Siukonen is a Finnish multidisciplinary artist, sculptor, and scholar whose practice spans visual art, music, and cultural research. While studying at the University of Tampere in the late 1970s, he became actively involved in Finland's emerging punk rock scene as a musician, bandleader, and organizer. Following studies with the experimental composer John Cage, Siukonen shifted his focus from music to visual art in 1983.

In 1994, Siukonen was awarded the Gregory Fellowship at the University of Leeds, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation. From 2004 to 2008, he served as Professor of Sculpture at the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. His numerous honors include three five-year working grants from the Finnish Arts Council, three residencies at the Finnish Institute in Rome, the Finnish State Prize (2017), and the Edvard Richter Prize from the Finnish Art Society (2023). Alongside his artistic practice, Siukonen has pursued extensive research in art and cultural history, publishing several scholarly monographs. He lives and works in Helsinki.

Photography marks a recent extension of Siukonen's artistic exploration. His new body of work, presented at Paris Photo 2026, was developed at the invitation of Miyako Yoshinaga and traces its origins to a single work exhibited at her New York gallery in 2019. Revisiting the original found material seven years later, Siukonen expanded the idea into an experimental series exploring the hand as both subject and instrument of artistic creation.

Employing direct, hands-on processes, Siukonen constructs layered photographic compositions incorporating physical objects, bringing together image-making and sculptural thinking. The series also includes works paying homage to William Henry Fox Talbot's early camera-less photograph of spruce needles (c. 1839), an image that has long fascinated Siukonen. Through these experiments, he reflects on photography's origins while exploring the relationship between touch, material, and representation.

Jyrki Siukonen's work has been exhibited extensively in Finland and internationally, including presentations in New York, London, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Moscow, São Paulo, Istanbul, Prague, Oslo, and numerous other cities across Europe. His exhibitions in New York include presentations in 2002, 2003, and 2019.