
Ultraviolence, 2018
oil on canvas
109 x 170 cm
In private 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) 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.

Wanderers, 2021-22,oil on canvas, framed, 46 x 40 cm
In Niemistö Art Foundation Collection

Object, 2021-22
oil on canvas
∅ 80 cm
In private collection

The Sea, 2021–2022, oil on canvas, 160 x 182 cm
In private collection

Still Life I, 2018
oil on canvas
170 x 135 cm
In Saastamoinen Foundation collection

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

Young Adults I (With Holbein’s Floating Skull), 2017
oil on canvas
200 x 150 cm
In Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art collection

Matinee
8 Feb – 4 Mar 2018
installation view

Something wicked this way comes (While Thinking of Marquis de Sade), 2012
oil on canvas
135 cm
In Heino Foundation Collection

Doppelgänger II, 2013
oil on canvas
190 x 148 cm
In HAM Helsinki Art Museum collection

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

We hope you are OK
10 Apr – 11 May 2014

Salaisuus, 2011
oil on canvas
180 x 155 cm
In private collection