Kari Vehosalo

Wanderer, 2022
oil on canvas
60 x 47 cm

In Niemistö Art Foundation Collection

KARI VEHOSALO is a philosopher and a craftsman. His works address power, its essence and structures, and how even unconsciously the social contract steers and restricts our way of being. Vehosalo sees the compositions in his paintings as arenas of interaction between fields of force that enable him to address concepts fundamental to humanity, such as death, beauty, sexuality and power. His paintings are the products of postmodern ideology: ironic and playful, with beauty, horror and ludicrousness very close to each other. Despite its postmodern emphases, Vehosalo’s thinking has a background in the tradition of humanism, a genuine interest in man: art is transient, life is short.  

Kari Vehosalo (b. 1982) lives and works in Helsinki. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at Turku Art Museum, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Haus am Lützowplatz in Berlin, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, and Amos Anderson Art Museum in Helsinki. An extensive mid-career retrospective was shown at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in Tampere in 2021. In addition to private collections, he has work in several notable public collections, including Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki Art Museum, Saastamoinen Foundation, Wihuri Foundation, and the Henna and Pertti Niemistö Foundation collection. Vehosalo was awarded the Ars Fennica prize in 2017.

Riss, 2026
oil on canvas
140 x 192 cm

Melancholy, 2026
oil on paper, laser engaving on glass
29,5 x 20 cm

In private collection

installation view

Photo: Jussi Tiainen

Object (Fire), 2020
oil and charcoal on canvas
150 x 123 cm

In Wihuri Foundation Collection


Object, 2021-22
oil on canvas
∅ 80 cm

In private collection

The Past is a Gaping Hole III, 2023
oil on copper
18 x 15 cm

In private collection

Young Adults V, 2020
oil on canvas
145 x 195 cm

In private collection

Suomenhevonen II, 2020
oil on canvas
155 x 195 cm

In Heino Foundation Collection

Young Adults I (With Holbein’s Floating Skull), 2017
oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm

In the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma Collection


Picture of Dorian Gray, 2013
oil on canvas
155 x 129 cm

In private collection

Matinee
8 Feb – 4 Mar 2018
installation view

Doppelgänger II, 2013
oil on canvas
190 x 148 cm

In HAM Helsinki Art Museum collection

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

Riss, 2026
oil on canvas
140 x 192 cm

Being III, 2026
oil on copper, wooden frame
24,8 x 19,8 cm

Architect's Room, 2025
oil on canvas
170 x 125 cm

Gaze, 2026
oil on canvas, framed
30 x 25 cm

There is a gap in between, where I end and you begin, 2021–2022
3D scan + selective laser sintering, polyamide, acrylic, stainless steel
object 23 x 25 x 15 cm
with pedestal 155 x 34 x 34 cm
1 + 1 AP

Still Life II (Skull, Knife), 2018
oil on copper
28 x 25 cm

Send inquiry

BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

KARI VEHOSALO’S (born 1982) works require a great deal of time to make. Before the brush even touches canvas a lot of thought, i.e. time, has been needed. Vehosalo no doubt thinks fast, but in such a varied, precise and critical manner that he needs more than a moment, or two.

His paintings are mostly based on photographs, from which he combines the final composition with precision and careful consideration. His technique of oil painting is also time-consuming: the works are made of several thin layers of paint and there is nothing random about them. They are technically perfect: the monochrome surfaces are completely monochrome, and the illusionistic parts imitate their subjects with astounding credibility.

At first sight, one might mistake Vehosalo’s paintings for realistic works. They are anything but realistic. A careful look will reveal that in reality – an interesting idea when speaking of an artwork – the human figures depicted in them would not necessarily even fit into the (visual) space in which they are placed. Also, the spaces shown in the work are compiled, leading to more differences with realistic representation.

This has to do with Vehosalo’s artistic strategy, having at its core the aim of a kind of momentum of alienation meant to make viewers stop and consider what they are actually seeing. This aim is supported by the grey scale of the paintings, also meant to establish a distance from realism. In the paintings, everything is ‘as it were, further away but clearer’.

These paintings are the products of postmodern ideology: ironic and playful, with beauty, horror and ludicrousness very close to each other. Everything is artificial, which of course is not just negative, for who among us would really like to meet, for example, a truly natural person?

Despite its postmodern emphases, Vehosalo’s thinking has a background in the tradition of humanism, a genuine interest in man: art is transient, life is short.

CV

download as pdf

KARI VEHOSALO

Born 1982 in Finland
Lives and works in Helsinki

STUDIES
2008–2010 Aalto University, University of Art and Design, Helsinki; University of Helsinki (studies in philosophy and semiotics)
2004–2008 Lahti University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Fine Arts, Lahti

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2026
    • I Dream of Fire, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2022
    • Unknown Pleasures, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2021
    • Kari Vehosalo – Retrospective, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
  • 2018
    • Matinee, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2015
    • Terrible Nature, Turku Art Museum, Studio
  • 2014
    • We hope you are OK, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Baroque of Violence, Gallery Aarni, Espoo
  • 2010
    • Hirtettyjen Tanssiaiset, tm-gallery, Helsinki
  • 2009
    • PURKU, Art Center Mältinranta, Tampere
  • 2007
    • Anthropic principle, Taidepanimo, Lahti

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2025
    • 24 fps / Reframing Cinema, Hämeenlinna Art Museum, Hämeenlinna
  • 2024
    • Being There, Le Clézio Gallery, Paris
    • I Feel, for Now, Amos REX Art Museum, Helsinki
    • Intertwined Worlds, Vantaa Art Museum Artsi, Vantaa
  • 2023
    • Out of Nowhere, Mänttä Art Festival, Mänttä
  • 2022
    • Näyttämö -ARS Häme 2022, Hämeenlinna
    • Rauma Triennale: Imagine! Mitä jos!, Rauma Art Museum
    • Facing Life, Hämeenlinna Art Museum
  •  2021
    • Selected works from Galerie Anhava artists, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2020
    • Life Line, Rovaniemi Art museum
    • The Displaced – The Archaeology of Refugees, Oulu Museum of Art and Lappeenranta Art Museum
  • 2019
    • Shared Dreams, Works from the Heino Art Foundation collection, Oulu Museum of Art
    • Hehku, Galleria Napa, Rovaniemi
    • Mostly Happy – Finnish Art Today, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin
    • Out of Office, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • In Black and White, Rovaniemi Art Museum
    • Fragile, Kaapo Gallery, Hyvinkää Art Museum
  • 2018
    • Imaginary Meeting – contemporary art from Jenny and Antti Wihuri Collection, Rovaniemi Art Museum
  • 2017
    • Ars Fennica 2017, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
  • 2016
    • Hypnosis, Hobusepea Gallery, Tallinn
    • From Heino with Love, HAM, Helsinki
    • Draw Now!, Rovaniemi Art Museum
  • 2015
    • Draw Now!, Lahti Art Museum
    • New and Newest, Rovaniemi Art Museum
    • Aineenvaihdunta, Galleria Kone, Hämeenlinna
    • Shift in the Shadows, Amos Andersonin Taidemuseo, Helsinki
  • 2014
    • Summer Exhibition, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • Alienation, Hyvinkää Art Museum, Hyvinkää
    • Traum{a}, Galerie Toolbox, Berlin
  • 2013
    • Helmiä, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Tampere
    • Drawing in the Flesh, Vantaa Art Museum
  • 2012
    • Reality bites, KIASMA-Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
    • Rajantaju, Purnu Art Centre, Orivesi
    • Figuration Y, Galerie Favardin & de Verneuil, Paris Alumni, Gallery Oyoy, Lahti
  • 2011
    • Emerging, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Montanos Malady, Galerie Favardin & de Verneuil, Paris
  • 2010
    • AHNE, Suvilahti, Helsinki
    • Virtually Real, Helsinki Art Museum, Helsinki
    • PAIN, Kerava Art Museum
    • Epäyhtälö, Gallery Rantakasarmi, Helsinki
  • 2008
    • AUKEAMA, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki
    • AUKEAMA, Lahti Art Museum
    • New Painting, Lahti Art Museum
  • 2007
    • Liukas saippua, Taidepanimo, Lahti
    • Liukas saippua, Köysiratagallery, Turku
    • Valintoja, Sibeliustalo, Verstas, Lahti
    • The Art of Basware, Sanomatalo, Helsinki
    • America, Art Center Ihana, Heinola
  • 2006
    • Second Round, Taidepanimo, Lahti
    • Toivonpäivä, Rautatieasema, Helsinki
  • 2005
    • Lahti 100 Years, Lahti Art Museum
  • 2004
    • VSK diplomawork exhibition, Turku

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Amos Anderson Art Museum
Finnish Art Society
Heino Art Foundation
Helsinki Art Museum
Henna and Pertti Niemistö Collection of Contemporary Art
Hämeenlinna Art Museum
KIASMA Museum of Contemporary Art
Lahti Art Museum
Lahti University of Applied Sciences
Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection (EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art)
Sara Hildén Art Museum
Wihuri Foundation (Rovaniemi Art Museum)
Private collections in Finland and abroad

GRANTS
Ars Fennica 2017 Award
Arts Council of Finland
Finnish Cultural Foundation
FRAME
Arts Promotion Centre Finland
Pauolo Foundation
Art Council of Helsinki
Aalto University
Finnish Art Council
Auno & Mauri Riutu Foundation

MEMBERSHIP
Finnish Painters’ Union
Helsinki Artist Association Kuvasto, visual rights organization

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Ars Fennica prize jury membership (2019–)
Professor of painting (2020–2021, Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts
Master’s thesis examiner, art teacher (Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts, Aalto University, University of Art and Design, Lahti Art Institute, LAB University of Applied Sciences)
Exhibition jury memberships