Heli Hiltunen

Ja valo se kävi niin vähiin / And Light Became Scarce, 2018
ink, acrylic and oil on canvas
200 x 180 cm

in Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation collection

HELI HILTUNEN’S works create pathways between the present and the past. She provides clues to the audience by forming routes in a kind of map, and by offering perspectives for a closer look. Her paintings, collages and photographs are entities of sensory perception and the memory, understanding and replication of seeing. They are combined and linked by viewing, remembering and the aim of creating a joint interface for the artist and the viewer. Her works may be exuberant and succulent or highly reduced, but they all have in common beauty and a yearning for it.

Heli Hiltunen (b.1960, Heinola) lives and works in Helsinki. She has held several solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions both in Finland and abroad, including at Galleri Andersson/Sandström in Stockholm and Umeå, Galerie Birthe Laursen in Paris, Stadtgalerie in Kiel, Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki, Sara Hildén Art Museum in Tampere, and EMMA Espoo Museum of Modern Art. Her works are included in several Finnish and Nordic collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Saastamoinen Foundation’s Art Collection, the Wihuri Art Collection, the Niemistö Collection, and Sara Hildén Art Museum. Hiltunen received the prestigious Ars Fennica Award in 2001. 

Light Departures | Hreinn Friðfinnsson, Heli Hiltunen, Maija Luutonen
23 Mar – 16 Apr 2023

From the series The Words Continued to Carry Their Voice (Epitaphs) 13, 2020
pigment print, serigraphy on glass
51 x 51 cm

Thank God, I’m Beginning to Be Delivered of My Melancholy
29 October – 22 November 2020
installation view
photo: Jussi Tiainen

From the series From Here to Here 8, 2009-2020
oil on canvas
53x43cm

Thank God, I’m Beginning to Be Delivered of My Melancholy
29 October – 22 November 2020
installation view
photo: Jussi Tiainen

From the Series Is It Morning or Evening? 2, 2020
acrylic and ink on canvas
40 x 30 cm

Finnish Art Society

The Northern and Southern Hemisphere, 2020
pigment print, pencil
66,5 x 66,5 cm

In private collection

Now I Hear What I Once Saw, 2018
acrylic and ink on canvas
200 x 180 cm

In Saastamoinen Foundation collection

Imagined Domicile 3, 2018
oil and silk screen on canvas
52 x 41 cm

In Niemistö Foundation Collection

An Opening Amidst a Thicket, 2018
acrylic, oil, ink and graphite on canvas
200 x 180 cm

In private collection

Wind Nest (Shelter for the Unsheltered), 2016
pigment print
79 x 123 cm
edition of 5

Summer Night Studies IV, I Borrowed an Objective from You, 2015
archival pigment print
41 x 41 cm
edition of 5

Selection of available works. For the full list, please contact galerie(at)anhava.com

Hämärä kirkas hämärä keltainen, 2024
oil on canvas
200 x 180 cm

Pakoyrityksiä (2), 2017
acrylic and coloured pencil on paper
83 x 63 cm

Kolme sulotarta, 2024
oil on canvas
85 x 70 cm

Paperitöitä kesälaitumilla (7), 2018-19
oil and coloured pencil on paper
59,5 x 41,5 cm

From the Series Here to Here 9, 2019
oil on canvas
53 x 43 cm

The Words Continued to Carry Their Voice (Epitaphs) 5, 2020
pigment print, serigraphy on glass
51 x 51 cm

From the Series Here to Here 7, 2020
oil on canvas
53 x 43 cm

The Words Continued to Carry Their Voice (Epitaphs) 16, 2020
pigment print, serigraphy on glass
51 x 51 cm

From the Series Is It Morning or Evening? 1, 2020
oil on canvas
40 x 30 cm

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BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

HELI HILTUNEN’S (b.1960) works – paintings, collages and photographs – are entities of sensory perception and the memory, understanding and replication of seeing. They are combined and linked by viewing, remembering and the aim of creating a joint interface for the artist and the viewer. Her works may be exuberant and succulent or highly reduced, but they all have in common beauty and a yearning for it.

Sometimes she creates large, layered and translucent paintings, drawn and executed with brushwork on canvas, with motifs that are close to landscapes. Sometimes the starting point is a heliogravure from an ancient book, over which Hiltunen paints designs in oil partly covering the original image and partly lending new meanings to it. Occasionally she photographs objects, sometimes the memories of other, unknown people, for instance photo albums from which the photographs have been removed for some reason or other. Sometimes, she makes collages overlaying existing photographs or prints, or prints serigraphic designs on paintings.

The work of a visual artist involves endless trust in the artist and viewer seeing and interpreting what is seen in a sufficiently similar way – for otherwise there would be no point in making visual art – and endless uncertainty about it. Even when we see the same thing and in fairly similar physical terms, every viewer adds their own history to the work, seeing it through their own life experiences.

CV

download as pdf

HELI HILTUNEN

Born 1960 in Heinola, Finland
Lives and works in Helsinki

STUDIES
1986–90 Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
1980–86 University of Art and Design, graphic design, Helsinki

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2024
    • Sydämen oppivuodet, Museokeskus Taika, Hyvinkää
  • 2020
    • Thank God I’m beginning to Be Delivered of My Melancholy, Galerie Anhava
    • Sydän on ontto lihas, Heinola Art Museum
  • 2018
    • Eye Witness, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2016
    • Half Remembered Light, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm
  • 2015
    • Wish to get there before dark, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2013
    • Merkityksien kollaasi, Orton gallery
  • 2012
    • It didn’t happen here, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm
  • 2011
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki, Finland
  • 2006
    • Gallery Ama, Turku, Finland
    • Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Umeå
  • 2005
    • Gallery Artina, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • Galerie Birthe Laursen, Paris
    • Institut finlandais, Paris
  • 2003
    • Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki
    • Finnland-Institut, Berlin
  • 2001–02
    • Ars Fennica 2001, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki; Oulu Art Museum
  • 2000
    • Gallery Kari Kenetti, Helsinki
  • 1999
    • GalleryKajo, Rovaniemi
  • 1997
    • Gallery Artina, Helsinki
    • Gävle Konstcentrum
  • 1995
    • Kunsthalle Helsinki, studio
    • Galleri Andreas Brändström, Stockholm
  • 1993
    • Gallery G, Helsinki
  • 1992
    • Heinola Art Museum
  • 1991
    • RUM, Galleri Pictura, Lund

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2024
    • Metsään, Lokal, Helsinki
  • 2022
    • Finlayson Art Area, Tampere
  • 2019
    • XXIV Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä
  • 2018
    • Verynice, Bloodygood, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki
    • Real Celebration!, Rovaniemi Art Museum
  • 2017
    • Zwischen Licht und Dunkelheit. Licht in der finnischen Gegenwartskunst, Stadtgalerie Kiel
  • 2016
    • Pyhäniemi Manor, Hollola
    • Kirjailijan valinta, Pinxsinmäki summer exhibition, Sysmä
    • 15 Years, Orton gallery, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • The Art Center Antares, Kouvola
  • 2013
    • 5:2 Group Exhibition, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Umeå
    • Suuri näytelmä, Villa Roosa, Orimattila
    • Maila Talvio-salonki, Hartola
    • Garden, LOKAL, Helsinki
    • Love-Peace, Liike, Helsinki
  • 2012
    • Kevätsalonki, LOKAL, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Just Life – Works of Art from the Vexi Salmi Collection, Rauma Art Museum
  • 2009
    • Instant III, Galerie Susan Nielsen, Paris
    • Ecology Of Feelings, XIV Mänttä Art Festival
    • Nordic Painting, Rackstad Museet, Arvika
  • 2008
    • Värähtelyä, Danielson-Kalmari museum, Vääksy
    • Ihmisiä niityllä, Galleria Huuto, Helsinki
    • Finnish and Nordic Contemporary Art from the Lars Swanljung Collection, Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa
  • 2007
    • Gallery space of Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki
    • Unbelievable But True – New Works from the Collection, Helsinki Art Museum
  • 2006
    • Purnu Art Center, Orivesi
    • Landscape – Works from Kiasma’s Collections, Kiasma, Helsinki
    • EMMA, Espoo Museum of Modern Art
    • Artist and Spectator, Sara Hildén Art museum, Tampere
    • Flowers as Picture, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2005
    • Samtida måleri, Galleri Stefan Andersson, Umeå
    • Helsinki Photography Festival 2005, Kunsthalle, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • IX Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä
    • The Garden of Eden, Helsinki Art Museum
    • Love Me or Leave Me: Favourites from the Collections, Kiasma, Helsinki
  • 2003
    • City Views, Projektraum M5, Visarte, Basel
  • 2002
    • An der Schwelle des Unbekannten, Kulturabteilung Bayer, Leverkusen
    • Maisema ajassa, Heinola Art Museum, Heinola
    • Maila Talvio -salonki, Hartola
  • 2001
    • Antiprima Bovisa: Milano Europa 2000, Triennale, Milano
    • Finnish Today…!, Galerie Asbæk, Copenhagen
  • 2000
    • Carnegie Art Award – Nordic Painting 1999, Barbican Art Gallery, London;
    • Listasafn Reykjavíkur, Reykjavik, Kungliga Akademin för de Fria Konsterna,
    • Konstakademien, Stockholm
  • 1999
    • What is real?, The Third Finnish Photography Triennial, Mikkeli Art Museum
    • Carnegie Art Award – Nordic Painting 1999, Sophienholm, Lyngby; Amos Anderson
    • Art Museum, Helsinki; Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
    • I confini dell´Europa – Arte Contemporanea della Finlandia, Casa delle Culture, Cosenza; Museo di Gallese, Viterbo
    • Photographie Finlandaise – Identité Fictive, Contretype, Brussels
    • Tunnen, The House of Sciences, Helsinki
    • Purnu summer exhibition, Purnu Art Center, Orivesi
  • 1998
    • What is real?, The Third Finnish Photography Triennial, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 1997
    • Dark Side, Galleria Kari Kenetti, Helsinki
    • 10, Kunsthalle Lund
    • Biennial of Young Artists of Europe and Mediterranean, The Cable Factory, Helsinki
  • 1995–97
    • TAiDETTA, Kunsthalle Karlskrona; Västerås Art Museum; Norrköping Art Museum; Kunsthalle Skövde; Värmlands Museum, Karlstad; KUB Kulturcentrum, Helsingborg; Konstens Hus, Luleå
  • 1994
    • A View of Finland´s Forests – Images and Experiences, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
  • 1993–95
    • Prejudices, Liljevalchs Konsthall, Stockholm; Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki; Oulu Art Museum, Finland; Östergötlands länsmuseum, Linköping; Kunsthalle Landskrona; Örebro länsmuseum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Warsaw; Museum of Contemporary Art, Vilnius
  • 1991
    • M’ARS 91 Exit, Mikkeli Art Museum
  • 1990
    • Advent Exhibition, Helsinki Art Museum
    • Graduating Students Exhibition, The Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
    • Young Artists´ Exhibition, Kunsthalle Helsinki
  • 1989
    • Young Artists´ Exhibition, Kunsthalle Helsinki

AWARDS
2001 The Ars Fennica Prize, Henna and Pertti Niemistö Art Foundation, Helsinki

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki
Anja Juurikkala Foundation
Collection Swanljung, Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Vaasa
Heino Collection, Helsinki
Heinola Art Museum
Helsinki Art Museum
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Landstinget Västerbotten
Niemistö Collection of Contemporary Art, Hämeenlinna Art Museum
Mikkeli Art Museum
Oulu Art Museum
The National Public Art Council, Stockholm
The Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
Umeå Kommun
Vexi Salmi Collection, Hämeenlinna Art Museum
Wihuri Foundation, Rovaniemi Art Museum

PUBLIC WORKS
Lassintalo, City of Oulu (2004)
University of Helsinki, Banquet Rooms (2007)

MEMBERSHIPS
Finnish Painters’ Union
Union of Artist Photographers