Aleksi Wildhagen

Aleksi Wildhagen is a Finnish-Norwegian artist with a penchant for the complicating image with aesthetic power. In contrast to
much painting which is expected to be a pleasant experience, on the same level as a small spa stay in everyday life, Wildhagen
believes, and has always believed, that art should strive for beauty, yes, but not without friction. Pictures are languages that takes
time to dig into. There must be effort and sacrifice both as a performer and a viewer. Painting is a wild medium, and a good
picture continues to create wonder, excitement and often headaches.
Aleksi Wildhagen has alternated between painting abstractly and figuratively since childhood. After nine years of professional
training, he graduated from the art academies in Trondheim and Helsinki in 2004 with a master’s degree and has been painting
ever since. An important turning point in his artistry came in 2011 when he started working outdoors with drawing and painting in
cities and villages domestic and abroad. This practice was later developed into the artist group -& Co., first with Patrik Entian and
then supplemented with Jens Hamran in 2018. After 2014, his practice is divided between studio work alone and plein-air painting
alone or with -& Co. Wildhagen has published approximately one hundred art reviews in the weekly Morgenbladet, signed with his mother’s surname Mannila.