Artist Biography

Elina Ojakangas is a Swedish-Finnish painter and graduate of Gerleborgsskolan School of Fine Art in Stockholm. Elina’s thought-provoking and emotive portraits delve into the complexities of identity and its interplay with melancholy.

Through warped, circular scenes, Elina transforms memories and feelings into autobiographical works, reimagining the human form through the lens of her own emotional experiences. Her meticulous and intentional approach to painting results in expressive, surrealistic figures that are both analysed and reconstructed.

Gallery Director Terri Lew describes Elina’s dramatic work as “uniquely weird, angular and well-executed,” capturing the contrast between her striking visual style and the underlying dysthymia her art seeks to express.

In Elina’s own words, “(in this series) I take the role of an observer, bearing witness to events from my own memory. I examine these moments of profound intimacy, when all the layers of expected behaviour vanish, revealing the human clarity of what lies beneath.”

Elina Ojakangas is an emerging oil painter who has exhibited in group shows in Sweden and is making her international debut at 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace. She is also represented in London by Rhodes Contemporary Art Gallery.

Education

2021-2023 Gerleborg School of Fine Art, Stockholm, Sweden

Occupation

2012-2022 Tattoo artist

Group Exhibitions

2023    Fearless art gallery Umea
2023    Gallery Grip Stockholm
2023    Fearless art gallery, Stockholm
2022    Gallery Killgissa, Stockholm
2021    Molndal museum, Molndal