The Helsinki-born, Paris-based painter Henni Alftan is interested in capturing the underlying tension, often overlooked, in everyday moments. She paints simply, in blocks of quiet color. Her scenes are mysteriously mute: a coat on a coat hanger, scissors cutting strands of hair, a room holding a ray of passing sun. Yet there’s a tugging sense of suspense. “Small perceptions of the everyday will merge with reflections on looking, painting, and image making,” says Alftan. “The motif of my works is equally painting itself, its history, the paint as a physical substance, the tableau as an object.” —E.C.