Kustaa Saksi

 KustaaSaksi creates and innovates with the Jacquardweave, generating all kinds of textile art andinstallations. He has already exhibited atthe Victoria & Albert Museum, the CooperHewitt Museum, the San Jose Museumof Art, the Textiel Museum and KunsthallStavanger as well asin galleries in New York,Paris, London, Helsinki, Singapore, HongKong, Tokyo and more. His commissionedartworks are for clients such as Hermès,Issey Miyake, Ferragamo, Lacoste, Nike,Marimekko and Swedese. With his largetapestries—all produced in limited editionsof six or eight— made of mohair, alpaca,merino wools, phosphorescent yarns, cotton,viscose, acrylic and lurex, he opens the doorinto his fantastical and esoteric wonderland.The transformation of his view of nature intotextiles leads to a very intense visualisationKustaa Saksiof all kinds of allegories. He knows no limitsin his textile research, performed on weavingmachines at Textiel Lab, associated withTextiel Museum Tilburg in the Netherlands.The machines make up a kind of tableau vivantwhere he explores diverse craft techniques.His collectionHypnopompicis a voyageinto his imaginative and imaginary botanicgardens that are full of seeds, wild insects andhypnotic animals like the owls you can oftenfind in the Nordic art and design iconography.Another recent series,Reveille, explores livingelements and animals in a more abstract way,including through texture and tactility. Evenmore wild and exotic, theWoolgatheringcollection maximises the effect of masks andbattlefields and explores an extraordinaryabyss. Kustaa Saksi is represented by SpazioNobile since 2018.

 

First Symptoms is the new cycle of six woven tapestries by Kustaa Saksi, mixed media in silk, mohair, rubberized cotton, cashmere wool, transparent polyester and velvet. Saksi suffers from migraine and uses his symptoms as a way to overcome pain and search for beauty and meaning in life.

 

Solo and group exhibitions

2019 Finnish Cultural Institute, Stockholm, solo show First Symptoms – Art Brussels, Tour & Taxis, Brussels, Belgium with Spazio Nobile, duo show with Bela Silva – Révélations with Spazio Nobile, Galerie Collection, Grand Palais, Paris, group show Keep Your Garden Alive – Solo Show First Symptoms & The Finnish Season at Spazio Nobile  2018 The Former Faculty of Biology, Riga, Latvia. – Simply Scandinavian – Nordic Design 1945–2018, TextielMuseum, Tilburg, The Netherlands. – IC-98: 2016–2018 (A World In Waiting), Taidehalli, Helsinki, Finland. – Artists’ Kalevala – Echoes from the Past, Kerava Art Museum, Finland. – Echoes – 100 Years in Finnish Design Felleshus, The Nordic Embassies, Berlin, Germany – Phantasmagoria, Spazio Nobile, Vanderborght Building, Brussels, BE / 2017 Hotel Panorama, PAN Amsterdam, The Netherlands. – Systema Naturae, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway / Summer Group Show, Gallery Fumi, London, UK – Collecting Europe, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK – Echoes – 100 Years in Finnish Design, POLIN Museum, Warsaw, Poland / 2016 Beauty, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, USA – Hypnopompic, Centro Cultural Inca Garcilaso, Lima, Peru – Objects of Desire, Design Museum, Helsinki, Finland – Porto Cervo, Gallery Fumi, Porto Cervo, Sicily, Italy – Woolgathering, Usagi Gallery, Hong Kong. SS – Beauty – Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, NY, USA – Hypnopompic, Instituto Iberoamericano de Finlandia, Madrid, Spain / 2015 Hypnopompic, Bergdorf Goodman, New York, NY, USA – Hypnopompic, MUMEDI Design Museum, Mexico City, Mexico – Muna/Egg, light installation at Het Stadsmus, Hasselt, Belgium – Hypnopompic/Reveille, Siu Siu, Taipei, Taiwan, Muna/Egg, light installation for Lux Helsinki, Finland / 2014 Hypnopompic, Helsinki Music Centre, Helsinki, Finland – Muna/Egg, Frankfurt Book Fair, Frankfurt, Germany – Hypnopompic, Le Botanique, Brussels, Belgium – The Soft House, Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, Italy / Hypnopompic TextielMuseum, Tilburg, The Netherlands –Hypnopompic, Centrocentro, Madrid, Spain / 2013 Hypnopompic
Artifact Gallery, New York, USA – Hypnopompic, Vitra, London, UK – Hypnopompic, Korjaamo Gallery, Helsinki, Finland – Being/Dreaming, KK Gallery, London, UK –Paper Pavilion, Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, Stockholm, Sweden / 2012 Cartoon Network 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Los Angeles, USA / 2011 Bookmark 2, Zirkumflex Gallery, Berlin, Germany / 2010 Kustaa Saksi’s Garage, Pori Art Museum’s Gallery, Pori, Finland / 2009 Pen-Paper-Scissors,Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK – History of Nike Running, Nike Showroom 1948, London, UK- Beneath The Surface, Nemo, Portland, OR, USA / 2008 The Heroes Maxalot Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands – 100 Pieces of Havana,Dray Walk Gallery, London, UK- Offpiste – In the Land of Kustaa Saksi,Old School, Singapore – Offpiste – In the Land of Kustaa Saksi, CCP, Manila, Philippines – Selected prints, The Main Post Office Gallery, Helsinki, Finland / 2007 Today’s Art, The City Hall, The Hague, The Netherlands – A nice set, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris, Madrid, Melbourne, Singapore – Illustrative, Espaces Commines, Paris, France – Illustrative, Villa Elisabeth, Berlin, Germany / 2006 Kustaa Saksi’s Collection, La Condition Publique, Roubaix, France – Icebreakers, Louvre des Antiquaires, Paris, France / 2005 Printemps, Artazart, Paris, France / 2004 Kustaa Saksi, Espai Pupu, Barcelona, Spain

Kustaa Saksi and IC-98, A World In Waiting, in the Norfolk House Music Room, V&A Museum, London, UK

Find our latest press package here.

When Migraines Lead to Art: Kustaa Saksi’s ‘First Symptoms’

Archipelago: Kustaa Saksi for the European Council

Kustaa Saksi : Herbarium of Dreams

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Associated artworks

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Nightless Night

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In the Fish Trap

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Arachne’s Web


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