BRIEFLY

PROFESSOR RIITTA NELIMARKKA has always chosen her own distinct path. Whatever technique or genre her art takes, from paintings and animated films to books, woolen reliefs and photomontages, the unique way of presenting it always remains. »My art emerges from real life, reflecting its joys and sorrows, conflicts and shocks, its normality and its chain of coincidences. I use parallels drawn from literature, film and music, but it’s always the personal experience which wins the process.” During years Nelimarkka has had numerous large exhibitions from Los Angeles and Lima to Bruxelles and Moscow. She has studied painting in Paris, film in Stockholm and music theory & piano performance at the Sibelius Academy. She has a doctorate degree in the arts and she has received the honorary title professor from the president of Finland. She has been the chairman of Nelimarkka-foundation since 1987.

The latest bigger works are the 13 meters long glass painting "Without too much thinking” at Hietaniemi pavilion 2016, and the same year the visualization for Debussy´s 5 Preludes for the Radio Symphony Orchestra. An exciting Gesamtskunstwerk with her husband Jaakko Seeck, is Bonga Castle, an old patrician house decorated by Nelimarkka´s over 200 works.

In 2016 she was awarded by the Order of France with the distinction of Officier des Arts et Lettres.

A Renaissance Woman with a Twist - Diving into the seas of colors

Riitta Nelimarkka resides in Finland, in Helsinki. She swims every morning year around, no matter how cold the water in the sea is, and has a hunting license. She loves movies that make her cry and never underestimates the power of a good laugh. ”I work every day but I also party every day in some way or another. I’m an idealist and I don’t want to give in. Pain exists, but you don’t need to work everything through pain.” Riitta Nelimarkka says.

STUDIES

Riitta Nelimarkka-Seeck is a graduate art teacher 1972, Master of Art (MA) 1998 and Doctor of Art (DA) 2001 at the University of Art and Design Helsinki (UIAH).

She has also studied at the University of Helsinki, at the Sibelius Academy, at the School of Applied Arts and design in Stockholm, Sweden and at the Institute of Industrial Arts, Department of Film and Television.

Since 1971 she has been working together and separate with her husband Jaakko Seeck as an artist and producer in the fields of film, literature and pictorial and textile art, creating and producing e.g. animated films, large exhibitions and art & poetry books.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Riitta Nelimarkka has received a number of prizes for her books and animations including the honorary award by the Union of Finnish Critics in 1974, the State quality award for motion pictures in 1972, 1973 and 1979, the Jussi honorary award (the Finnish "Oscar") in 1979, a Special honorary prize at Tampere International Short Film Festival in 1979, Jury´s Special prize at Giffony, Italy 1980 and Risto Jarva prize in 1985. 2008 December Riitta Nelimarkka received the honorary title Professor awarded by the President of the Republic of Finland.

POSITIONS OF TRUST

Her positions of trust include membership on the board of the Finnish Film Archive and the Finnish film magazine Filmihullu ("Film Freak"). She has also served at the National Council for Cinema, the Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Section of Unesco. Since 1987 she has been the president of Nelimarkka Foundation, since 1973 the president of board of Seneca, since 2001-2003 a member of the National Council for Design and 2003 -2005 a member of Design and Public display grant.

Many of Nelimarkka´s big textile works have found homes abroad especially in Finnish embassies and consulates in several cities all around the world. A remarkable work is the huge art textile Con Calore I - II commissioned for Mäntyniemi, the official residence of the President of Finland.

SELECTED PRIVATE EXHIBITIONS

Jelmoni Gallery / Milano 2024. Montserrat Contemporary Art / New York 2024. Anima Mundi – Visions / Venice 2024. Art Center Salmela / Vuohijärvi, Finland 2023. Spazio Tadini museum / Milan, Italy 2023. Monteoliveto Gallery / Paris, France 2023. Art Pappila / Sastamala, Finland 2022. Nelimarkka Museum / Alajärvi, Finland 2022. Rome International Art Fair / Rome, Italy 2022. Dacia gallery / New York 2021. Florence Biennale, Italy 2022. MyMicroGallery / Milan, Italy 2021. Camden Image Gallery / London, UK 2021. MyMicroGallery – V I R T U A L 2021. Santa Eufemia Gallery / Venice, Italy 2021. Helsinki Music Centre (Musiikkitalo) / Finland 2020 – 2021. Galerie M Beck / Homburg + Durbach, Germany 2020. Camden Image Gallery / London, UK 2020. Erkkola / Tuusula, Finland 2020. Amsterdam Whitney / New York, USA 2020. Florence XII International Biennale of Contemporary Art / Florence, Italy 2019. Kimmo Pyykkö Art Museum / Kangasala, Finland 2019. Amos Anderson art museum, Helsinki - Finland 1990. Art Centre of Pyrri, Savonlinna - Finland 1991. Wäinö Aaltonen museum, Turku - Finland 1994. Kunsthall, Helsinki - Finland 1994. Savonlinna Art museum, Savonlinna - Finland 1995. Tikanojan taidekoti, Vaasa - Finland 1996. Maurizberg Castle, Sweden 2000. Finnish Cultural Institut, Berlin - Germany 2000. EXPO 2000, Hannover - Germany 2000. FIDM, Los Angeles - USA 2001. Culture centre DOM, Moscow - Russia 2005. Gallery Tšeretelji, Moscow - Russia 2005. The Fortress of St. Peter and Paul, St. Petersburg - Russia 2006. Museo de la Nacion, Lima - Peru 2006. EU parliament, Brussels - Belgium 2006. Hallwylska museet, Stockholm - Sweden 2007. La ”MAISON DE L´AMÉRIQUE LATINE DE MONACO”, Monaco 2008. In addition to several gallery exhibitions as well as a number of joint art exhibitions, graphic biennales and film festivals in different countries.

BOOKS

Praise has also been bestowed on her picture books and children's books, which include "The Robbing of the Sampo" (rewarded e.g. by the Finnish Society of Kalevala), "The Seven Brothers", "The Space", "The Big and The Small in the Universe", "The Gallery", "Karmelia's ABC" (which received an award in Bologna, Italy, 1990), "Babylonia" (rewarded in Bologna and in Brno, Czechoslovakia, 1992), "Oceania" (invited to Biennale Brno 1993) and "Apollon". She has also published two illustrated collections of poems, "Tabula Rasa" and "Giovanna Idiaatta" (1996) and also a romantic, philosophical poem by the title "Self Portrait Elise´s Dissertation, Variation of a variation" (2000). Elise´s Unmemories (2008). Seven Brothers (2009). Big and Small in the Universe (2010)

FILMS

Animations by Nelimarkka & Seeck (SENECA OY) include "The Legend of the Sampo" (60 min), based on the Finnish national epic Kalevala in 1972-1974, the old ballad of "Bishop Henry and Lalli" (11min) in 1974, the first Finnish full-length animated motion picture "The Seven Brothers" in 1979 and a series "Bagatelles op. 1 - 13, semi-sad human fates in the nut shell" (25 min) in 1972-1974 and "The Birth of Rabula (11 min.), a musical animation on creation in 1995.