Jouni Toni (b. 1984, Finland) lives and works in Tampere, Finland. A graduate of the Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts (2010) and a 2014–15 resident at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, Toni received the Royal Painting Prize in 2015. His work is represented in major private and public collections in Finland and the Netherlands, including the Helsinki Art Museum, the Finnish Art Society, DELA, and the UMC collection.
From the far north of Finland to the temperate landscapes of the Netherlands, Toni creates intuitive, colour-rich paintings that feel at once abstract and familiar. His practice, which also includes sculpture and digital animation, starts with a painter’s instinct—exploring shape, form and colour—while turning memories, experiences and observations into a personal visual language. Instead of depicting specific figures or places, he draws on memory and imagination to create characters and forms that speak to shared emotions.
At the centre of his process lies digital sketching. Toni’s materially rich canvases remain grounded in the present while their imagery moves freely beyond physical laws. He sees human experience as shared terrain, inviting viewers into a quietly guided encounter where perception becomes part of the work.
Residencies have been pivotal to his development: time at the Rijksakademie broadened his techniques and perspectives, while a recent residency at WOW in Amsterdam challenged him to merge discipline with experimental freedom. New paintings and small sculptural works from this period were presented to acclaim at the Vertical Gallery.
CIRCLE welcomed Jouni Toni to its core group of artists in 2025 and will continue to present his latest work.
