A Derelict Economic Desert #2

EGS (FINLAND, *1974)

EGS is an anonymous Finnish visual artist who has held several exhibitions in galleries, installations at the Helsinki Biennial 2021 and has previously held major solo shows at the Finnish Glass Museum (2020) and the Kunsthalle Helsinki (2018). The name EGS originates from his graffiti tag, as he began his career when the first wave of graffiti hit Finland in the mid-1980s. Since then, and while still active in graffiti, the artist has transmutated his style into different directions, towards an abstrated practice of graffiti, using painting, drawing, hand-blown glass sculptures, and installations in search of meaning, mostly in the wake of the collapse of the USSR and the recomposition of Europe, exploring ruins, concrete surfaces, and the notion of impermanence. EGS has published several books, among them "Writing Stories with Three Letters" retracing his breakthrough exhibition of glass sculptures at the Finnish Glass Museum (2020) (available here) as well as his latest publication - "This Could Go on Forever", the catalogue of his solo show of the same name at the Serlachius Museums (2023).

EGS lives and works in Helsinki, Finland

EXHIBITIONS:

SELECTED INSTITUTIONAL SHOWS

This Could Go on Forever, Art Museum Gösta (Serlachius), Finland, 2022-2023

EGS & Niina Mantsinen, Joensuu Art Museum, 2022

Concrete Reflections, Urban Spree Galerie, Berlin, 2021

1st Helsinki Biennale, 2021

Writing Stories with 3 Letters, Finnish Glass Museum, 2020

Writing My Diary, Kunsthalle Helsinki, 2018

Graffiti, Helsinki Art Museum, 2018 (collective exhibition)

LINKS:

https://www.instagram.com/oldhelsinki/

http://egshelsinki.com/