Slippery Grip
01. Slippery Grip – solo exhibition at Loisti Gallery, Helsinki (FI) August 2025
photography/exhibition view (c)Kira BjörklundSommarstilleben
01. Lokal Helsinki’s Summer Exhibition Sommarsilleben in Billnäs (FI) 2025 - more
photography (c)Lokal GalleryFlicker
01. Flicker – series of paintings and ceramics as part of Paimio Sanatory’s Summer Exhibition 2025
02. The exhibition brings together a series of paintings by Linda Linko that reflect sensitivity, the passage of time, transience, and a sense of incompleteness. Created over several years, the works are connected by a shared sense of landscape and composition. Classical themes are approached with a free and distinctive visual language.
Beneath the soft lines lingers a bittersweet feeling. The need to stay still while something burns inside. Movement when all one longs for is stillness. These are often the moments that leave the strongest trace.
Beneath the soft lines lingers a bittersweet feeling. The need to stay still while something burns inside. Movement when all one longs for is stillness. These are often the moments that leave the strongest trace.
Serifs and Jellybeans
01. Linda Linko is a Helsinki-based visual artist who works in a variety of mediums, focusing in particular on drawing and painting. The visual thinking of Linko, who graduated from the University of Art and Design in 2004, is shaped by her background in design. Her works are influenced by both contemporary painting and 1960s Polish poster design. Her work is characterised by a recognisable visual style and an interest in the chosen materials and the possibilities they offer.
“I am fascinated by the dynamics of seeing, observing and understanding. Through art, it is easier to explore inexplicable structures and semiotic associations - deformities, which have always interested me.”
02. Serifs and Jellybeans – Duo exhibition with Milla Vaahtera, Lokal Gallery, Helsinki 4/2025
“I am fascinated by the dynamics of seeing, observing and understanding. Through art, it is easier to explore inexplicable structures and semiotic associations - deformities, which have always interested me.”
02. Serifs and Jellybeans – Duo exhibition with Milla Vaahtera, Lokal Gallery, Helsinki 4/2025
photography (c) Katja Hagelstam, LokalSkanno
01. Skanno x Acerbis – Pop-Up exhibition, Skanno Showroom, Helsinki 2024
Portraits
01. Self portraits - more or less - from the year 2024
Knot
01. “ I’m undoing a knot. Taking my painting apart. Surface, lines, areas, finally simply colours. I proceed in small intervals, layer by layer, and thinly, a mark is created. I don't plan. I destroy many works, some I start from scratch. A longing for clarity. The colour palette of legos seems sincere. The end result is landscapes, some kind of deformations on a horizon. “
02. Knot – the exhibition White Wall, Lokal Gallery, Helsinki 2024
photography (c)Katja Hagelstam, LokalCharcoal
01. Charcoal on paper and canvas
02. part of the series exhibited at Bud Helsinki (FI) August 2023
Symbiosis
/VFA
01. Aino 2000 is a modern interpretation that delves into the mystical essence of the Finnish folk epic Kalevala. The character of Aino combats challenges by transforming and adapting to the new world in the fluidity form of of water.
02. Aino2000 is part of ‘Symbiosis’ group exhibition byVilla Filanda Antonini, exhibited at ArtVerona, Verona (IT) 2023, and Salon de Nada, Paris (FR) 2024, together with two other artist-in-residences : Matteo Valerio and Alessandro Calabrese . More about VFA ArtVerona project
Work in progress / Villa Filanda Antonini(IT), 09/2023
Blush
01. Linda Linko’s series Blush ensemble of paintings and drawings has followed her for many years, waiting for the right moment to be presented. She wanted the series to be formed with a free rein, on its own terms. After the birth of her son, she started painting again; carefully, in small, with watercolours – and of him, of course. She describes that the faces soon turned into self-portraits, and thus, over time, into one or another. In looking for the size and technique, Linko did not want to become too fixated on one thing. To her, it is not who the piece portrays that is relevant, but rather, how it's portrayed – the level from which we look at each other.
“The characters in my works do not owe me anything. Showing empathy and sensitivity without stepping into a trap is difficult, and maybe that's why it's so interesting. Every piece has its own identity, and I am just a middleman; an interpreter, a giver of form. However, just as they owe me nothing, I also don’t own them. As a viewer you get to choose who the works represent: me, someone else, family, a stranger, lover, an idol perhaps. Lay your gaze on them and they’ll gaze back at you.”
“The characters in my works do not owe me anything. Showing empathy and sensitivity without stepping into a trap is difficult, and maybe that's why it's so interesting. Every piece has its own identity, and I am just a middleman; an interpreter, a giver of form. However, just as they owe me nothing, I also don’t own them. As a viewer you get to choose who the works represent: me, someone else, family, a stranger, lover, an idol perhaps. Lay your gaze on them and they’ll gaze back at you.”
photography (c) katja Hagelstam, LokalEchoes
01. “Girls and women, all dressed into their best dresses, work in a silk factory in the 40’s or 50’s. I am surprised. From photos the process looked still and stiff, but video footage reveals their movements were fast and lively. However, behind their focused faces I come to think how were the women really like: What kind of jokes they told, what made them smile, were the girls thinking about boys, what were their wisdom, sorrow? True colors in real life.
I would not call these artwork as portraits, rather echoes of people who might have worked here. “
I would not call these artwork as portraits, rather echoes of people who might have worked here. “
02. Artist residency, exhibition and Open Studio at Villa Filanda Antonini, Villorba, Treviso (IT) October 2023 – more info
photography,installation view (C)Federico Marin / VFA
Saatchi X Delphian Gallery
Saatchi Gallery, London (UK) 2022
Caldera
01. Paintings of Caldera vary from abstract to representational, yet both are united by a desire to capture something inherently human. Sensitivity. Beneath the vibrant and soft lines, there is a bittersweet feeling: the compulsion to move forward when one simply wants to be, to stay still even as an inner burning persists. Often, it is precisely these experiences that leave the most profound imprint. I believe in the power of subtle signals.
“ I often describe my process as a snowball or a wispy cloud where movement is scattered. I periodically return to the core, continuing old themes even after years, and the concept of the whole often remains open-ended. Few things in the world have clear outlines.”
When a volcano erupts, its center often fractures and collapses. This bowl-shaped depression is known as a caldera.
“ I often describe my process as a snowball or a wispy cloud where movement is scattered. I periodically return to the core, continuing old themes even after years, and the concept of the whole often remains open-ended. Few things in the world have clear outlines.”
When a volcano erupts, its center often fractures and collapses. This bowl-shaped depression is known as a caldera.
02. Exhibited at Marcy Home Gallery by Antonia Hamberg in 2022
New Forms of Being
01. The New Forms of Being collection features original works from Linko's personal archives spanning the years 2018-2021. The drawings have emerged from a desire to let go, to be silent for a moment, to strip away all unnecessary elements, to discover something new, and to boldly venture on the border between good and bad taste. Some of the drawings have originated from memory traces—warm ones and those that the artist has deemed important to capture.
02. Exhibited at Oho Gallery as part of Burst Into exhibition, Helsinki fall 2021. More information here
02. Exhibited at Oho Gallery as part of Burst Into exhibition, Helsinki fall 2021. More information here
OHO Gallery, Helsinki (FI)
Photography (c) Paavo Lehtonen
Battle
01. The series – “Lately, I've been drawing female wrestlers. I am fascinated by the shapes of their bodies, simultaneously both feminine and masculine extremes. The various manifestations of strength, juxtaposed with sensitivity, have always intrigued me.
Battle is a kind of victory cheer, a resignation from the constantly imposed image of women. The vibrant and boldly executed pieces mock the assumed female rivalry, leaving room for interpretation of the figures as supporting each other—a united force and opportunity. Cheerfulness is the best weapon.”
Battle is a kind of victory cheer, a resignation from the constantly imposed image of women. The vibrant and boldly executed pieces mock the assumed female rivalry, leaving room for interpretation of the figures as supporting each other—a united force and opportunity. Cheerfulness is the best weapon.”
02. The exhibition – Gallery Ahjo, Espoo Cultural Center (FI) August 2021
photography (c) Paavo Lehtonen / studio shot