Milka Mansikka

Stig Baumgartner

Born in Järvenpää, Finland 1969 I Lives and works in Helsinki

Baumgartner’s oeuvre consists chiefly of paintings, drawings, and installations. In addition to his artistic work, he is also a lecturer in drawing and perception at the Academy of Fine Arts.  He has completed numerous public commissions. Baumgartner is represented in many prestigious Finnish collections including the Saastamoinen Foundation and Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art.

Galerie Forsblom has been representing Stig Baumgartner since 2017.

Stig Baumgartner work is inspired by private experiences and memories. In his latest works he combines precise, rational geometry with free, organic brushwork. The Key Figure 2020-21 paintings are based on a compositional principle combining an identical number of interconnected horizontal and vertical blocks. This principle visually and conceptually symbolizes the human figure, albeit that Baumgartner’s paintings ostensibly carry on the legacy of abstract geometrical painting. His compositions have the same, slightly twisted, off-axis symmetry as the human form.

Baumgartner’s work draws inspiration not only from the history of abstract art, but also from sources as varied as everyday observations of his surroundings to real people and vivid dreams. His rectangular blocks are like architectural floor plans. Through mundane associations, Baumgartner demystifies the mythic aura of abstract art. In his own words, there is always something warped and imperfect about abstract art, revealing something salient about the human imperfection of what we call rational thought.