Heikki Marila b. 1966

Born in Lahti, Finland 1966 | Lives and works in Turku, Finland

Known for his massive oil paintings and intense themes – including variations on art historical subjects as well as biblical and historical motifs – Heikki Marila is a leading figure in the Finnish contemporary art scene. Marila captures the intensity of painting traditions and reinterprets them through the lens of contemporary social and visual discourses. His expressive paintings are laden with paradoxical drama: they play with contrasts, combining the spiritual, beautiful, and sublime with the carnal, and corporeal. His paintings are characterized by a strong physical materiality – a dynamic dialogue between bodily engagement and the forceful presence of the material, as well as between figurative and non-figurative elements.

Marila has exhibited widely in Finland, the Nordic countries, and Europe. In 2025, he had a large solo exhibition at the Sara Hildén Art Museum. His works are represented in numerous notable collections, including the Sara Hildén Art Museum, the Wäinö Aaltonen Museum of Art, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, the TIA Collections in the United States, and the Ståhl Collection in Sweden. He won the Carnegie Art Award in 2012.

Galerie Forsblom has represented Heikki Marila since 2015