Meet the Artist - Heini Mika | Fine Art for Fine People

Heini Mika is a Finnish artist living and working in New York City. Heini practically began making art when she was born and she sold her first ceramic sculpture at her neighborhood’s art fair at 6 years old. Since then Heini has acquired two fine art degrees from Finland and the United Kingdom and her paintings have been exhibited on four continents, most notably in NYC, the United Kingdom, the UAE, and Indonesia. Heini’s contemporary paintings serve the viewer with a palette of vibrant colors and dynamic shapes while she gives you her unique perspective on women, fairytales, and history. They have been an important source of inspiration for Heini throughout her career as an artist and this can be observed in her rich and intriguing original artworks.

Heini is the Co-Founder and chief curator of HMVC Gallery New York, an online art gallery that provides artists a space to exhibit and sell their work. With her own gallery, Heini aims to create a community where artists from all walks of life are welcomed and where they can receive public acknowledgment and encouragement on their artistic journey.

In Heini’s main series the “Feminine Perspective” Heini explores the complex nature of her female heroines.

“Since forever have women been the subject of great art, but rarely were we allowed to create great art. As I am a female artist in the 21st Century, I look to my female idols for guidance and inspiration even though the current society we live in is trying to convince me that the women I admire, do not matter because they are/were beautiful and successful. My goal as a female artist is to explore this dichotomy between my female heroines’ pop culture images and their true stories. Why do we love to turn women into legends just to tear them down either publicly or privately.

From Marie Antoinette to Miley Cyrus, the women I paint have inspired me either stylistically or spiritually, and while I wish to highlight the candy-colored image pop culture has given them, I am aware of the darkness that lurks behind the fun.

As a Finn, I grew up on satire, dark humor, and happy endings and that is well reflected in my work. At first glance, my cartoonish mixed media paintings may depict my subject’s pop culture image perfectly, which is usually colorful, ditzy, and lacking in substance, but I am actually satirizing our perceptions of my female heroines. We are all guilty of prioritizing a person’s image over the narrative.
I choose to work with acrylics and glitters because their vibrant hues and textures are well suited for creating eye-catching artworks that are unique to me, and perfect for the subject matter. Just like the women I paint, I am an unconventional woman in the eyes of my society and with my art practice I want to invite viewers to look past the glittering images and see the depth and complexity of the women I paint, myself included. “

Next, Heini’s watercolor series “Fantasy Collection” was inspired by history, fairytales, and her travels around the world.

Her second watercolor art collection, “Narratives in Colour” was heavily influenced by her air hostess career in the Middle East, where she was exposed to more artistic inspiration than she ever could have hoped for. Narratives in Colour consists of several colorful original artworks depicting people in historical and modern contexts.

Heini’s portrait collection, “Then and Now Portraits” consists of acrylic canvas art and limited editions. As one of the many talented history-inspired women artists, Heini played with a thought imagining how the historical characters would like to be portrayed in our modern era.

Join celebrate these fine people by viewing Heini Mika’s original art collections and wall art for sale here.

Fine art for Fine people.