I've been really busy after the show opening in Helsinki but I can't complain. Last week I did a new big drawing commissioned by a collector. I finished the work on Saturday morning few minutes before the Galerie Forsblom team came from Madrid to collect it and visit my studio. They came to Spain for Arco Madrid art fair and modified the fair plans here - they added in the original showcase of four artists a fifth element - several RS paintings. By coincidence, Isidro, taking a break from his installation construction in Madrid, was visiting us during the weekend with a van. Yesterday he drove me and the works to Madrid. Today I rest at home before heading to the fair opening tomorrow.

I always tried to tell myself that the problem was neither in me nor in my works but in the galleries I worked with. I have collaborated with intelligent and passionate gallerists but this is the first time that the sales are made to happen and don't come hazardously. During the first week Galerie Forsblom has sold a half of the works included in Turbo Realism show. I guess it's normal business for the gallery but a novel experience to me.

Forsblom & Sakkinen is turnning out a match made in heaven but obviously I come from somewhere, I'm a Top 10 artist in Finland in fame and now I dare to believe that soon in terms of sales too. There have been many people supporting me since I was an art student but now I've found the missing link. Maybe soon I can think more art than money.

It's a Monday morning of an opening week and I have nothing to do, a slightly anxious feeling. I don't go to the gallery before Tuesday. My son traveled with me, we arrived yesterday in Helsinki and we are staying at my mother's place in suburbs. We are surrounded by snow. I try to enjoy of family time and not think of work (impossible). Actually, the gallery has planned the installation work for Wednesday. Tomorrow I want to check the frames of the drawings, then I have a lunch with some collectors and in the evening I go to opera. This schedule is somehow much more relaxed than what I'm used to. Maybe too much.

Riiko Sakkinen: Turbo Realism
Galerie Forsblom, February 13 – March 8, 2015
Exhibition opening in the presence of the artist
February 12, 2015 5pm–7pm.

Turbo Realism marks Riiko Sakkinen’s (b. 1976) debut exhibition at Galerie Forsblom. The large-scale drawings and acrylic paintings contain a sense of familiarity due to their surrounding commercial context involving things such as bags of potato chips, Disney animation characters, and various print media publications, particularly celebrity and entertainment news.

The exhibition title refers to the art movement Turbo Realism that Sakkinen founded in order to make global capitalism visible. In his manifesto, the artist expressed the desire to enlighten the viewer to the mechanisms and impact of capitalism while questioning social structure in the process. In addition to paintings and drawings, Sakkinen’s modes of expression include wall hangings, slides, installations and interventions, all of which comment on the consumer culture, from fast food to prostitution and from supermarkets to drug cartels.

Among other projects Sakkinen is known for his installation MuNA, the Museum of No Art at the Gösta Museum in 2014, in which he critically examined the museum as an institution. The politically and socially critical artist works effortlessly across varied media, involving various styles, trends, and materials. In addition to art criticism, Sakkinen is also active in his blog as well as in traditional and social media.

After graduating from Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2002, Sakkinen moved to Spain, where he still lives and works. His works have been exhibited in galleries, museums, biennales, and locations across the world, and his works can be found in numerous collections, including New York Museum of Modern Art, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and the Amos Anderson Art Museum.

Back in black
I hit the sack
It's been too long
I'm glad to be back
Yes I'm, let loose
From the noose
AC/DC

Last September, I started preparing 50 Shades of Black - a series of monochrome paintings. When Galerie Forsblom programmed my solo show for February, I had to take a hiatus from the noir stuff because the work didn't fit well in the concept of the show. The paintings and drawings for Turbo Realism show were shipped last week to Helsinki and now I went back to black.

I like to use social media for my work. Yesterday, I asked my friends, followers and fans to complete my preliminary list of the black titles. With a little help from my friends I finished the selection.

1 Coal
2 Darth Vader
3 Kaaba
4 Black Market
5 Crude Oil
6 Outer Space
7 Raven
8 Black Sabbath
9 Black Pudding
10 Black Cat
11 Black Madonna
12 Darkness
13 Death
14 Evil
15 Magic
16 Gunpowder
17 Black Panthers
18 Black Knight
19 Men in Black
20 Pirates
21 Batman
22 Cephalopod Ink
23 Black Sheep
24 Africa
25 Anarchism
26 Fascism
27 Black Card
28 Blackwater
29 Goth
30 Little Black Dress
31 Black Eye
32 Jihadism
33 Black Hole
34 Black Swan
35 Black Widow
36 Black Metal
37 Black Box
38 Black Operation
39 Mascara
40 Black September
41 Black Friday
42 Blacklist
43 Blackmailing
44 Caviar
45 Black Belt
46 Black Humor
48 Blackboard
49 Ebony
50 Film Noir