Marina Sunna Finland, b. 1972

Mari Sunna is a singular artist whose work consistently evokes a sense of recognition while remaining elusive, hovering between shared experience and visionary states. Her practice is marked by an acute sensitivity, kinetic energy, and an assuredness that feels instinctive rather than calculated. The surfaces of her works emit a muted radiance, where color and shadow intermingle and forms transform into bodies, limbs, organs, and faces. This restrained yet pulsating intensity is paired with an autonomous, continuously evolving visual language.

 

Drawing on imagery drawn from both erotic and scientific sources, Sunna refines these references into concentrated, sharply articulated compositions. Within them, forms elongate, dissolve into abstraction, merge, and unfurl, creating images that are at once fluid, corporeal, and psychologically charged.

 

Mari Sunna has presented numerous solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions at institutions and galleries including The Hole, New York; CLC Gallery Venture, Beijing; EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art; Galerie Burster, Berlin; Museum of Art and History, Brussels; Palfrey Space, London; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; and Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan. Her work is held in notable collections such as M WOODS Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Aspen Collection, Deutsche Bank, the Nordic Watercolor Museum, the Saatchi Collection, and the UBS Art Collection. She was shortlisted for the Art Fennica Prize in 2005.