Born 1974 in Helsinki Lives and works in Helsinki EDUCATION: BA Graphic Design, University of Arts London, UK
EXHIBITIONS:
2024Embassy of EGS
Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
2023Weight of The World Is Love
Urban Spree Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Instruments For Mapping The Eternity,
Himmelblau Gallery, Tampere, Finland
2022This Could Go On Forever,
Serlachius Museums, Mänttä, Finland
2021Concrete Reflections,
Urban Spree Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Constantly Dreaming of Concrete,
Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland
2020Writing Stories with Three Letters,
The Finnish Glass Museum, Riihimäki, Finland
2019History is Made at Night,
Himmelblau Gallery, Tampere, Finland
2018Writing My Diary,
Kunsthalle Helsinki, Finland
2016Make Your Mark Gallery,
Helsinki, Finland
2015China Heights,
Sydney, Australia
2015HAM Metro gallery,
Helsinki, Finland
2014ARCOmadrid,
Madrid, Spain
2013Make Your Mark Gallery,
Helsinki, Finland
2012Unruly Gallery,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
2010Napa Galleria,
Helsinki, Finland
2009Napa Galleria,
Helsinki, Finland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2023Glass Finlandia,
Halle Du Verre,
Grand Pic Saint-Loup, France, Finland
2022Egs & Niina Mantsinen,
Joensuu Art Museum,
Joensuu, Finland
Shapeshifters,
Kunstlinie,
Alkmaar, The Netherlands
Platinum,
Stolen Space Gallery,
London,UK
2019Impossibilty of an island,
Herrick Gallery,
London,UK
2018Artmosphere 2 – Urban Art Biennale,
Moscow, Russia
Graffiti,
HAM Helsinki Art Museum,
Helsinki, Finland
Art is Where the Heart is,
Galerie Droste,
Paris, France
Three Positions in Modern European Painting,
Golden Hands Gallery,
Hamburg, Germany
2017Rakkaudesta vapauteen,
Kerava Art Museum Sinkka,
Kerava, Finland
Vallaton,
Vantaa Art Museum Artsi,
Vantaa, Finland
Dreamaholic – Art from Finland,
Miettinen Collection, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art,
Bremen, Germany
201615 Years Anniversary Exhibition,
Galleria Orton,
Helsinki, Finland
1984. Evoluzione e rigenerazione del Writing,
Galleria Civica di Modena,
Modena, Italy
Out of Sight,
Proof Gallery,
London, UK
Process & Progress,
Foley Gallery,
New York, USA
2015Works on Paper,
China Heights Gallery,
Sydney, Australia
Multiples,
Le Fix Gallery,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Impossible Spaces,
Kunstpakhuset,
Ikast, Denmark
RZO, EGS, Aeon & Nug,
Fluorescent Smogg Gallery,
Barcelona, Spain
Inside / Outside,
Quadart,
Dornbirn, Australia
Abstract Vandalism,
Galerie Gabriel Rolt,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Unruly Goup Show,
Dog and Pony,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Mapping the Streets,
Somerset House,
London, UK
2014Art Stena,
Saint Petersburg, Russia
At Arm´s Length,
Örebro Konsthall,
Örebro, Sweden
WuTang is For Children,
Londonnewcastle Project Space,
London, UK
20135 years of GSB,
Gallery Steinsland Berliner,
Stockholm, Sweden
Le Fix Gallery,
Copenhagen, Denmark
Make Your Mark-kollektiivi,
Galleria Orton,
Helsinki, Finland
2012Leave the beef on the BBQ,
Guerrero Gallery,
San Francisco, USA
Det här är inte konst,
Sundsvall Museum,
Sundsvall, Sweden
Stendahls Syndrome,
Stockholm, Sweden
Street Art,
Myymälä 2 Galleria,
Helsinki, Finland
Street Art – The New Generation,
Porin taidemuseo,
Pori, Finland
Tribute to Moebius,
Montana Gallery,
Barcelona, Spain
2011Universal 2,
Napa Galleria,
Helsinki, Finland
Hang The Prints,
Gallery Steinsland Berliner,
Stockholm, Sweden
Get the Papers,
Galleries Goldstein,
London, UK
Egs & Petro,
Make Your Mark Gallery,
Helsinki, Finland
2010WMD – International Graffiti Collective,
Napa Galleria,
Helsinki, Finland
2009Topsafe,
London, UK
2008Friend & Co Gallery,
Bristol, UK
2006The Same Line,
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Publications:
2018EGS, Writing my Diary,
Pirkko Tuukkanen (ed.): Finnish Art Society
2017The Art of Writing Your Name: Urban Calligraphy and beyond
Christian Hundermark, Patrick Hartl,
Publicat
2016The Art of Rebellion 4 – Masterpieces of Street Art,
Christian Hundermark,
Publicat
2015Abstract vandalism
Unruly Publishing
2014EGS – 3 letters
Spray Daily
2013The World Atlas of Graffiti and Street Art,
Rafael Schacter,
Yale Press
Graffiti Cookbook,
Tobias Barenthin-Lindblad,
Dokument Press
2011Crack & Shine International,
Fredric Forsythe,
FFF/Topsafe Books
Graffiti Burners,
Björn Almqvist,
Dokument Press
2010Action Painting – Bringing Art to the Trains,
Kristian Kutschera,
Stylefile
2009All City Writers,
Andrea Caputo,
Kitchen 73
2003Overground 9 Scandinavian Graffiti Writers,
Jakob Kimvall,
Dokument Press
1998Helsinki Graffiti,
Tuomas Jääskeläinen & Anne Isomursu, Matti Pyykkö
Collections:
Aalto University Executive Education,
Helsinki
Helsinki Art Museum HAM
Jaakko Lindgren Collection
Miettinen Collection
Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma / Finnish National Gallery,
Helsinki
Pekka Mattila Collection
Finnish State Art Commission
Vantaa Art Museum Artsi,
Vantaa
Pekka Lehtinen Collection
Timo Miettinen Collection
Kyösti Kakkonen Collection
Public works:
Wall Painting,
Commissioned by the HUS Hospital,
Helsinki, Finland, 2017
Three wall paintings,
Commissioned by the Finnish National Gallery: Vantaa prison,
Vantaa, Finland, 2016
Wall painting,
CAC Malaga Contemporary Art Center,
Malaga, Spain, 2015
The artist EGS (b.1974) grew up in Helsinki, Finland, where, in the late ‘80s, he began graffiti writing, taking inspiration from the somber decorative forms found in that austere yet relatively permissive city. Developing an eagerness for travel, and to see beyond the great divide that in cold war times separated his country from its neighbours, the young artist began to work across Eastern and Western Europe. In this pre-internet era such forays into previously unknown territories came with a sense of risk and adventure unimaginable today. This discovery of Europe as a series of new districts, walls and trains to be painted, opened up a clandestine history that would later inform EGS’ contemporary artworks. These sculptures, paintings and installations are developed in parallel with the artist’s graffiti practice yet come to be displayed on the walls of museums, rather than on the streets. This journey has seen the artist present his works in the Kunsthalle Helsinki, ARCO Madrid, and in numerous galleries across Europe.
Throughout his works a number of motifs and subjects recur, including the repetition of the letter E, G, and S (his graffiti tag), map-like forms, travel, social history, and glass as a medium. The latter interest has resulted in a body of work large enough to constitute an early retrospective at the Finnish Glass Museum in 2020, comprising works blown both in Finland and Lithuania. These works are often created in the form of the artist’s tag, partaking in a process of repetition that abstracts language, and which has spanned the artist’s career, presented in both street art and institutional settings. A similar preoccupation with cartography sees the artist appropriate familiar geographical forms. The message, that history remains with us, yet is ours to shape, is both unmistakably clear and compelling.
Mike R. Watson, PHD