Aurea Tanttu b. 1996

Aurea Tanttu (born 1996 in Helsinki) graduated from Konstfack in 2024 (MFA) and holds a BFA from University of the Arts London. She took part in a group exhibition at Loyal Gallery, Stockholm, in 2024. Tanttu is represented in the collections of Ersta Diakoni, Stockholm, and The Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art, Wales. She was awarded the Kungl. Konstakademien stipend from Sven Erixson’s memorial fund in 2024. Further, Tanttu has exhibited in group exhibitions in Marseille, Helsinki, Barcelona and London. MARKET art fair is Tanttu’s second collaboration with Cecilia Hillström Gallery, having previously being featured in a showroom. She has an upcoming solo show at the gallery in 2027.

Aurea Tanttu approaches painting as a tool through which memories from the past—or even the future—can be unearthed. Observations triggered by homesickness transform everyday things into something sentimental and childlike, even ominous. Tanttu constructs images that hover between figuration and apparition, creating spaces in which bodies dissolve into surfaces and light becomes an active, almost sentient force. The paintings suggest moments of interiority, where the self is encountered obliquely at the threshold between waking and dreaming. Tanttu’s handling of paint reinforces this perceptual ambiguity. Thin veils of color create surfaces that feel both tactile and immaterial. Working across various supports, including coarsely textured jute, linen, and smooth panel, her choice of materials contributes to the emotional register of each work.