Heiskanen was one of Finland’s most respected contemporary artists. He died on Friday at the age of 85.
Heiskanen was one of Finland’s best-known and most respected contemporary artists. He is best known for his metal graphic works, in which he often depicted, for example, mythical creatures. Heiskanen was often interested in mythologies and fairytale worlds in his artistic production.
Heiskanen’s art was also based on his childhood experiences and the trips he took with his veterinarian father. Later, Heiskanen also traveled in South Asia, and the importance of these trips became great.
Heiskanen was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal in 1984. He was named an honorary doctor of the University of Helsinki in 1997, and he received the title of academician in 2004.
A long career in art and education
Heiskanen was born in Mikkeli on September 26, 1937. He went to study as a graphic arts teacher at the School of Art and Design, from which he graduated in 1959. Later he returned to study graphics at the School of Art and Design and the Finnish Academy of Arts, where he graduated as a printmaker in 1973.
In addition to his career as an artist, Heiskanen worked for a long time with the academic education of visual arts. Heiskanen worked as a professor of graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1992 to 1995 and as rector of the Academy of Fine Arts from 1994 to 1995.
\”Outi loved people\”
When the artist’s home was renovated in 2015, Heiskanen moved to Vehmaa in Varsinais-Suomi. Heiskanen suffered from dementia in his last year and lived in a nursing home in Vehmaa.
In the Punainen lanka program in 2005, he mentioned his \”crooked mouth\” as the secret of his success.
– It seems ironic, and irony requires intelligence and stealth, Heiskanen laughed at the time.
– Outi loved people. He had at least a hundred best friends, and I was one of them.