The work of Henni Alftan (*1979) stems from a deep engagement with the medium of painting, its methods and its histories, resulting in pictures of daily life that are intimately familiar and yet intriguingly unknowable. Born in Helsinki and based in Paris, the artist depicts everyday scenes and objects, often cropped or otherwise fragmented, each rendered with a studied economy of means. In spite of her pared-down aesthetic, Alftan’s experiments with color, texture, scale and perspective produce canvases rich in layered meanings that double as metaphors for seeing and comprehending the world through the physical properties of paint.
Henni Alftan, Round Table III, 2024
Henni Alftan
O de Giotto
La Box, Bourges
April 25–June 15, 2025
Henni Alftan’s approach to painting transcends the traditional relationship between image and representation. Rather than simply deriving a figure or scene from a reference image, Alftan focuses on the concept of the “object.” Over two decades ago, she began her artistic journey by creating painted volumes, sometimes placed in space or mounted on walls. These sculptural forms provoke questions about the act of seeing while mimicking the material and semantic thickness of the painted object. The title of the exhibition at La Box in Bourges, O de Giotto, is offering an opportunity for the artist to express her interest in another artist, while also graphically marking the coherence between form and the symbolic meanings that guide the act of painting. The “O” here is rich with possible interpretations. It serves as an emblematic letter, a reference to the painter “Giotto,” and also as a symbol of the gaze. Additionally, it represents an open form, a void that the imagination can fill. Seen as a circle, the “O” also dictates the formal choices in many of the works presented in the exhibition.
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