HIGHLIGHTS – Finnish Painting 2024

HIGHLIGHTS – Finnish Painting 2024

Explore contemporary Finnish painting with curators Mamie Beth Cary and Claire Mary Anne Gould. They have co-curated 10 Finnish painters to showcase their approach to contemporary practices, redefining painting's boundaries.

The weeks surrounding CHART Art Fair and ENTER Art Fair (29 August – 1 September, 2024) offer an exceptional opportunity for the international art community to enjoy a focussed interest in Nordic talent as the world’s leading arts professionals, collectors, enthusiasts and collaborators look to the wider Nordic region for introductions to the artists being showcased at the fair and in galleries, institutions and ateliers around Copenhagen and beyond.

To complement this focus on Nordic talent, The Finnish Painters Project has commissioned Mamie Beth Cary and Claire Mary Anne Gould to co-select 10 of their artists to inspire you beyond the fair’s radar. Mamie Beth Cary is Director at von Bartha in Copenhagen, and Claire Mary Anne Gould has more recently been an institutional curator at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art Aalborg and HAM Helsinki Art Museum.

The selection and article, titled HIGHLIGHTS, is intended to act as a prompt for you, whatever your role or interest is within the international art community, to explore more yourself and to delve into contemporary Finnish Painting. As part of the project, Cary and Gould offered tailored portfolio reviews to all participating artists.

Read the full article and concise reflections on each artist’s works by the curators here.

Mamie Beth Cary

Mamie Beth Cary (b. 1988) is the Director of von Bartha in Copenhagen, and has since 2021 overseen the gallery’s artistic programming. As the first international gallery to open in the Scandinavian city, she is responsible for the gallery’s dedicated engagement with the local and international art community, which has resulted in exhibitions, events, tours, and special commissions. Located in the 75 m2 historic lighthouse in the vibrant neighborhood of the Carlsberg City District, she has transformed the gallery space into a creative hub for contemporary art.

Together with Hester Koper and Caroline Bøge, Mamie is the co-founder of WITA (Women Interacting Through Art), an initiative in Scandinavia that provides a platform for leading women and non-binary individuals to come together, enjoy a diverse and engaging program through art, and share and learn from each other‘s experiences.

Born in London, she holds a combined honors degree in History of Art and English Literature from the University of York. After graduating, she worked for artists, galleries, publications, and art fairs, including Frieze, Damien Hirst, Isaac Julien, and Ryan Gander. She moved to Copenhagen in 2016, taking up the role as Head of Artistic Programming at Chart Art Fair and Director of the gallery Andersen’s Contemporary. She lives with her husband and daughter in Vesterbro.

 Claire Mary Anne Gould

Claire Mary Anne Gould (b. 1973) is a Curator with over 20 years experience working in the arts, both an independent and instuítutional curator.

From 2005-2019, she was Curator at Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), curating group and solo exhibitions of Finnish and international artists, including monographic exhibitions with Yayoi Kusama (2016) and Gilbert & George (2018). More recently she was Curator at Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark working with international artists such as Shara Hughes, John Körner and Larissa Sansour & Sören Lind. Previous employment has included the British Council, Helsinki, Hamburger Bahnhof/Museum der Gegenwart, Berlin, and CHART art fair, Copenhagen.

Claire grew up in the UK where she studied a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Newcastle University, completed a Master diploma in Economics from the Technische Universität, Hamburg, a Master in Arts Management from the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, and in June 2024 graduated with an MA in Curating from Aarhus University.

FINNISH PAINTERS

The Finnish Painters-website is a platform for visual arts professionals to get acquainted with Finnish painting. They share information and work as an agent between art professionals and contemporary Finnish painters. They do not charge for the service or sell works of art directly. The Finnish Painters-website is part of the Finnish Painters project, which, in addition to publishing and maintaining the website, develops support services for the painters and establishes contacts with Finnish and foreign actors in the field of visual arts.

The Finnish Painters project is provided by the non-profit organisation Finnish Painters’ Union, with the support of the Saastamoinen Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The Finnish Cultural Institute in Denmark supported the portfolio reviews provided by the curators Cary and Gould.