Rafael Wardi’s portrait of Asko Sarkola unveiled at the City Theatre

Rafael Wardi , a master of Finnish visual arts, has painted a portrait of actor Asko Sarkola, who successfully conducted the Helsinki City Theatre from 1998 to 2016, as a commissioned work for the Helsinki Theatre Foundation. 

Jorma Bergholm, Chairman of the Helsinki Theatre Foundation, unveiled the work at the Helsinki City Theatre on 6 October.

The title of the work, Tartuffe, performed by Asko Sarkola (oil, 2017) indicates that it is not a traditional portrait. The artist presents her subject, the beloved actor, in her work on the stage of Lilla Teatern, which is particularly important to her.

The title role in Molière’s Tartuffe was Sarkola’s last role as a theatre director. Before his leadership period at the City Theatre, Sarkola had a long career as an actor, assistant director and director at Lilla Teatern from 1967 onwards. Since 2005, Lilla Teatern has operated as part of the Helsinki City Theatre, as its bilingual stage.

Asko Sarkola is satisfied with the implementation of Wardi:

“I admire Ward’s sense of drama, he sees Molière’s theme clearly,” Sarkola praises.

Wardi watched the performances of the play Tartuffe in the autumn of 2016 and made sketches from his workstation built in the balcony auditorium of Lilla Teatern.

“The work is painted in the spirit of Molière. I believe that Asko Sarkola’s fine, powerful interpretation of the role in the portrait speaks to me,” says Rafael Wardi.

The portrait of Asko Sarkola will be placed in the balcony foyer of the main stage. The painting can be seen by the public in connection with the theatre’s performances. The doors to the foyers are always opened one hour before the start of the performance.

Rafael Wardi has previously painted two commissioned works for the Helsinki City Theatre from the record-breaking play Quartet in 2007, starring Kyllikki Forssell, Ritva Valkama, Lasse Pöysti and Pentti Siimes.