Joonas Mäntylä

About the Artist

Joonas Mäntylä (b.1997, Helsinki) works with painting and printmaking. In other words, he expresses his ideas by leaving traces on canvas and paper. In his artistic practice, Mäntylä aims for results that are open to multiple interpretations, often humorous, and surprising even to himself. 

Exhibitions

BFA Exhibition 2026

11.9.–11.10. Kuva/Tila

About the artwork

I wanted to combine several themes into a single tower for my thoughts.

The tower consists of nine paintings, some of which are clearer or more visible, whilst others are distant and resemble, rather than depict something.

The parts of the work are thoughts that vary in their ability to take hold and are situated on different layers of memory. To me, they are all equally important: each layer holds the whole, made up of these thoughts, together and keeps it stable.