Topi Ruotsalainen - A bunch in a pile

Now there is such a bunch in the pile that it takes one’s breath away!

Better not to be left on the fringes of this bunch... let alone completely outside...

Topi Ruotsalainen is a visual artist and painter born in Kuopio (1979) and living and working in Espoo. He has become known for his figurative oil paintings in which he depicts the human being. Ruotsalainen’s human is often in a space or situations, alone and together, as a crowd, as groups and as networks. Through these different groupings, Ruotsalainen raises subtle questions that reflect the surrounding society and the events of our time. Among the human figures in the works, you can often find something out of the ordinary, a small symbolic element, which sometimes creates a whimsical and humorous, sometimes threatening and charged atmosphere in the paintings.

Ruotsalainen graduated from the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts in 2009 and from the Helsinki University of Art & Design as a Master of Arts in 2005. He held his first solo exhibition in 2005, after which he has actively held solo exhibitions and participated in numerous joint and group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad. Since 2010, gallery Heino has been responsible for presenting his works in Helsinki. His works have been exhibited internationally, e.g. in Berlin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, London and New York.

Ruotsalainen’s works of art are in numerous private and public collections both in Finland and abroad. In Finland, his works for art are e.g. in the collections of Kiasma, Amos Rex, Saastamoinen Foundation, Aine Fine Arts Foundation, Heino Art Foundation, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Kuopio Art Museum and Tampere Art Museum.