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.

Occupation

2012-2022 Tattoo artist

Education

2021-2023 Gerleborg School of Fine Art, Stockholm, Sweden
2024-Present Swedish Academy of Realist Art – Simrishamn, Sweden

Selected Exhibitions

2026 In Time Mini Solo Show, 19 Karen Contemporary Artspace, Gold Coast Australia
2025 Those Moments After Solo Show, Rhodes Contemporary, London
2024 Grythyttan Konstrunda, group exhibition – Hällefors, Sweden
2024 Untitled Art Fair, group exhibition -Miami, USA
2023 Group Exhibition, Fearless art gallery Umea, Sweden
2023 Group Exhibition, Gallery Grip, Stockholm Sweden
2023 Group Exhibition, Fearless art gallery, Stockholm
2022 Group Exhibition, Gallery Killgissa, Stockholm
2021 Group Exhibition, Molndal museum, Molndal