Galerie Anhava

“Humans, always oriented toward the future, inevitably confront the reality of their finitude. This tension between infinite aspiration and the limits of life often creates a sense of impatience. For the philosopher Martin Heidegger, the key lies in fully accepting our ephemeral nature, in “being-there” (Dasein) — either by living authentically, embracing our impermanence, or inauthentically, by fleeing from this reality.

For Vehosalo, ‘Being There’ means perceiving reality and truth differently, shaped by our desires, culture, and unconscious mind. In front of vast landscapes and interior scenes marked by gaping black holes, his almost photographic paintings immerse our gaze in mystery, uncertainty, and fragility.”

Image: Kari Vehosalo, The Past is a Gaping Hole III, 2023, oil on copper, 18 x 15 cm. Photo: Erno Enkenberg

The selected works highlight the colour palettes typical of different eras, colour theories, material research, as well as the cultural, symbolic and emotional dimensions of colours. The exhibition brings together paintings, graphic art, photography, moving image and sculpture, all of which illuminate the essence of colour in their own ways.

Alongside the museum’s own acquisitions, works from the collections of Nils Dahlström, the Friends of Turku Art Museum and Lars Göran Johnsson are included, as well as an acquisition from the latest subcollection, Collection Lieto Savings Bank Foundation.

Image: Jussi Niva, I Spy With My Eyes Something Being As Indigo, 1994. Photo: Jussi Tiainen

The exhibition runs until 2.2.2025.

Image: Courtesy of WAM Turku City Art Museum

In the restless fantasies of Joel Slotte’s paintings, we see complex underdogs, bruised thinkers and weary revellers. The features in the (self)portraits are rugged, the gazes inaccessible, yet relatable. Moving effortlessly from lush gardens and shabby bike sheds, to the murkiness of art history, or the gates of a cemetery, Slotte’s rich symbolic scenes are dense with meaning – the medieval armors, plant mythology, squirming tattoos and jagged death metal logos serve as markers to the characters’ mindscapes. Moving from large canvases to smaller, coloured pencil drawings, Slotte’s palette becomes even more acidic, details more staggering, and the figures more fantastical.

Joel Slotte (b. 1987, Kokkola) lives and works in Helsinki. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2016. In 2021, Slotte was elected the Young Artist of the Year. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, most recently at HAM Helsinki Art Museum (2024); Turku Art Museum (2024), Finlandsinstitutets galleri, Stockholm (2023); and the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki (2022). In addition to private collections in Finland, Sweden and Denmark, Slotte’s works have been acquired by major public collections, including the art museums of Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Kuopio, the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the Pro Artibus Foundation.

Slotte’s first solo exhibition at Galerie Anhava took place in August 2024.
Learn more about the artist and find Slotte’s available works via our Artist page.

For his work Forest Square III (2013) Laitinen removed a 10 x 10 meter piece of forest and sorted it into it’s different materials: soil, moss, wood, pines, etc. He then rebuilt this piece of forest and arranged the different materials by colour.

The exhibition runs until 12 January 2025.

Image: Antti Laitinen, Forest Square III, 2013, C-print