Gallery Elverket’s summer 2026 exhibition is a retrospective of Erik Creutziger’s enchanting colour paintings.

Erik Creutziger’s solo exhibition A Shadow of Paradise: Works from 2003–2026 will open at Gallery Elverket in May 2026. Earlier this spring, he moved into Pro Artibus’ Villa Snäcksund residency in Ekenäs, and his first retrospective exhibition is opening now. It features works from his student days right up to newly completed paintings.

In recent years, Creutziger has been working on a series of paintings on the theme of secret pleasures. The pictures in the series depict swimming pools, lush landscapes with palm trees, and groups of people. They reflect the way that his production combines his own observations, experiences and memories with free imaginings. In the Hulda’s house series (2017), Creutziger’s own experience of an abandoned house and the related associations provided the initial impetus for paintings that display his characteristic imaginativeness. His art is emotionally charged, added to which his paintings seem to inhabit their own reality: a place where fantasies, memories and dreams happen.

One of the red threads running through the exhibition is made up of animal motifs, of which there are a plentiful variety. Creutziger’s bird paintings, which comment creatively on constructivism, show a series of bird-identification images. Another important theme consists of various rider-and-mount themes, in which the connection between mount and rider evokes allusions to both ancient centaurs and cowboys. In Creutziger’s works the animals are the companions and partners of human beings, but also distinct individuals.

Creutziger notes that his working process is characterised by the alternation of pleasure and melancholy. When viewing his art, we frequently notice how sensual orgies of colour are accompanied by a discordant sense of melancholy or a feeling that not everything is as it seems. His paintings are alluring, like fly traps, and they open up feelings in many different directions. They are materially enticing and tantalise the eye, while also seeming to tell diverse stories, with only some of them revealed to the viewer, while the rest remain hidden. Ambiguity and escapism are crucial to the charm of his art.

Erik Creutziger talks extensively about his art and working process in an interview with Juha-Heikki Tihinen to be published to accompany the exhibition. His other solo exhibition will open at Art Hall Vaasa on 22.5.2026.

Juha-Heikki Tihinen, PhD

Erik Creutziger

Erik Creutziger (b. 1982) has studied at Västra Nylands folkhögskolan, the Free Art School, and the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, where he graduated as a Master of Fine Arts in 2013. He debuted in 2007. His works are in the collections of Kiasma, Helsinki Art Museum, HUS, Pro Artibus Foundation, the Saastamoinen Foundation, Salo Art Museum, the State of Finland, among others. Creutziger has received the Maire Gullichsen, Hèléne och Walter Grönqvists Stiftelse, William Thuring, and Stina Krook Foundations’ prizes. He is a member of the Finnish Painters’ Union, Kuvasto, and Helsinki Artists’ Association.

erikcreutziger.com

Program during the exhibition

6.6, 4.7, 1.8 and 5.9 Guided tours on the first Saturday of each month at 12 noon

6.6, 4.7 and 1.8 Art workshops for all ages on the first Saturday of each month at 13–15

22.8 Raseborg Pride

Admission to all events is free.

Pro Artibus has received support for the exhibition
Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, The Finnish Heritage Agency, Sophie von Julins stiftelse

The artist has been supported by
Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, The Finnish Cultural Foundation, Understödsstiftelsen för Arbetets Vänner, Amos Anderson Fund