Jukka Siikala

[Balor/SS1535]

Since the new issue of Seksnobyl seems imminent, I thought it would be interesting to create a dedicated thread to Siikala.  While I do not have a complete collection of his publications (not to mention no original works), I have tried my best to keep up with what he has been creating for the past few years.  Of course the Ecstatic Nausea book is a fantastic overview of his career (especially of his paintings), I am personally finding his more recent photographic works to be the most fascinating.

While I was disappointed with the poetry from Steve Finbow (though I really liked his introduction), I thought the photos in Polaroid/Haiku were some of Siikala's best works.

I think his novella is also worth mentioning as something worthy of attention.  I'm not sure how it reads in the original Finnish, but I thought it was quite good when I read it at the time of its English release.

Thoughts on this artist?

[HateSermon]

Fucking amazing artist. I like his paintings as much as his photography. The abstract realism type of stuff being my favorite. The few books that I do own I revisit often, especially the Seksnobyl issues as well as the book with BU that Abgrund put out.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I did the introduction for Ecstatic Nausea and own bunch of original paintings, signed/numbered editions of photo prints, in various sizes. He got exhibition some years ago where museum quality prints of the stuff was available. Due size, I guess some of them are hard to send out abroad, but good stuff.

Too bad possibly the best interview with him, is in Finnish, in few hours long podcast interview by Sarvilevyt - meaning myself of course, hah.. When discussing his art, background and life in general, in finnish, it gives a lot of information you can't really find anywhere else. First time Siikala artwork was featured in something I put out, was already like.. 96? 97? Something like that and since then we've done a lot of things together.

His new zine indeed coming very soon. IOPS stuff, so will be listed at nhfastore as soon as its ready to ship.

[landscapesuicide]

one of my favorite visual artists. i find myself flipping through "ecstatic nausea" all the time.

awesome dude too, he was kind enough to let me use an image of his for a tape i'm working on putting out.

[thetenthousandthings]

I did the introduction for Ecstatic Nausea

Too bad possibly the best interview with him, is in Finnish, in few hours long podcast interview by Sarvilevyt - meaning myself of course, hah.. When discussing his art, background and life in general, in finnish, it gives a lot of information you can't really find anywhere else. First time Siikala artwork was featured in something I put out, was already like.. 96? 97? Something like that and since then we've done a lot of things together.

It was a nice surprise, and is a very good introduction.

Ah yes, too bad indeed... was that because at the time he wasn't as known to people outside of Finland? Seems at this point he has a die hard, albeit still cult, following all over the (modern) world. Even though I believe I own most of his photo / art books, I don't think I quite can get enough Siikala.
There was an exhibition hosted for him in New York City, around 2014-15, I believe, and from what I heard the turnout was quite low. Crazy to think about...

Eager for Seksnobyl 3!

[Balor/SS1535]

Does anyone have the Japan photobook?  How is it?

[FreakAnimalFinland]

Japan photobook is "less weird", I'd say. Not really explaining much, but lets say the cover picture barely represents the content which doesn't have that much of the weird x-rated themes, so to say.
I may have couple of the books in my (physical) store if someone is hunting for one.

I would suspect the international following of Siikala grew mostly thanks to his presence at IG and the more recent years books by international publishers. Not sure how many knew what he was doing even 15 years ago, although Finn underground people should be well aware of his works on way or another.

In his website, first mentioned publication is 2012 "Anti-social realism" book, but he has done art zines long before that. I would think that 2012 book may have been bought by some people due Bizarre Uproar & Grunt connections without people even knowing who exactly Siikala is. After that, situation changed a lot. His website is often not very up-to-date, and IG is more posting samples of works. I guess he was attenting some event in London sometime soon, not even sure where and if it is advertised. Seksnobyl #3 was to be published so it came out at the time of that event.

[Balor/SS1535]

Japan photobook is "less weird", I'd say. Not really explaining much, but lets say the cover picture barely represents the content which doesn't have that much of the weird x-rated themes, so to say.
I may have couple of the books in my (physical) store if someone is hunting for one.

I would suspect the international following of Siikala grew mostly thanks to his presence at IG and the more recent years books by international publishers. Not sure how many knew what he was doing even 15 years ago, although Finn underground people should be well aware of his works on way or another.

In his website, first mentioned publication is 2012 "Anti-social realism" book, but he has done art zines long before that. I would think that 2012 book may have been bought by some people due Bizarre Uproar & Grunt connections without people even knowing who exactly Siikala is. After that, situation changed a lot. His website is often not very up-to-date, and IG is more posting samples of works. I guess he was attenting some event in London sometime soon, not even sure where and if it is advertised. Seksnobyl #3 was to be published so it came out at the time of that event.

I believe the new event has been advertised in various places on Instagram, and, maybe, Facebook as well.