Helsinki-based emerging artist Cansu Pylkkänen (b.1987, Turkey) is primarily working in photography, acrylic painting, and performance art. Pylkkänen holds a BA in Architecture from Haliç Üniversitesi, MA in Architecture and Urban Planning from Politecnico di Milano, and MA in Interior Architecture from Aalto University where she studied under artists and curators; Kukka Paavilainen, Marja Nurminen, Hanna Westerberg, Bassam el Baroni, Mi You, Hanna Weselius, Laura Isoniemi, and Pilvi Porkola. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the History and Cultural Heritage Department at the University of Helsinki and is the founder of Ego Død Studio (2022-), where she designs and coordinates multi-disciplinary projects focusing on graphic design, brand design, art direction, product and spatial design and more.
Pylkkänen is a thoughtful, creative and sensitive person who loves challenges and is not afraid to explore herself through art. The subjective character of her work allows viewers to learn about the artist; her story and life philosophy. Pylkkänen uses color as the most powerful narrative tool which aims to evoke emotion at the first glance. She looks for the exceptional in the ordinary and make it visible by investing in the abstraction, the metaphorical meaning, the atmosphere, the transmitted feeling, and the artistic quality of the work.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Body of Water, Tiedekulma - Think Gallery, Helsinki (FI)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Visualized Me, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
2019 Drawing in Space, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
2018 Draw&Paint, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
2018 Hack the Color, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2020 Record of Reflection - Loan Edition, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
2020 Futures in Process: Of Sites Rendering Speculation, Aalto University, Espoo (FI)
PRESS
2020 Ice Hole - Live Art Journal, Issue 10, Group show digital catalogue
COLLECTIONS
Private Collection, Lahti (FI)
Private Collection, Istanbul (TR)
AWARDS
2023 Special Mention Architizer Vision Awards Student Creator of the Year Category