Riiko Sakkinen - Blacks

Known for his political and provocative art, Riiko Sakkinen (b. 1976) examines the meanings of colour in his recent works. He is particularly interested in how colours are interpreted and perceived, as well as their connection to language. Rather than traditional colour theory, Sakkinen focuses on the cultural, political, and economic meanings of colours. 

Sakkinen challenges Kazimir Malevich’s painting Black Square (1915), which the artist described as a zero, an empty form completely without meaning. In Sakkinen’s black colour patches, however, there are references to jihadism, fascism, and Black Friday sales. Colour is never empty; instead, every colour is full of meanings and symbolism depending on its context. Sakkinen states that colour can say more than a thousand images.