Karoliina Hellberg

Cabinet, 2022
ink, acrylic and oil on canvas
150 x 150 cm

In private collection

The enigmatic nature and narrative tensions of KAROLIINA HELLBERG’s works lead viewers to the realms of the imagination and memories. Her paintings are rich in detail, employing colour intensely, sensitively and in an explicitly sensuous manner. The works range from large and sumptuous paintings in oils and acrylic to precisely executed, even palm-sized works on paper. By painting, Hellberg restructures and reorganises time – interweaving new layers into it and taking apart others to create weaves of concentrated moods and meaning from things that are of both an everyday and a special nature. 

Karoliina Hellberg (b. 1987, Porvoo) lives and works in Helsinki. She graduated as Master of Fine Arts from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015. She has held many solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions, including at Elisabeth Xi Bauer Gallery in London, Amos Rex in Helsinki, Ásmundarsalur in Reykjavik, Didrichsen Art Museum in Helsinki, Gallery Kant in Copenhagen, and the Finnish Institutes in St Petersburg and Stockholm. Her work is found in numerous private and public collections, including HAM Helsinki Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, and Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection. In 2018, Hellberg received the Didrichsen Art Museum’s Pro Arte award. Her artistic work is supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (2018-2023).

The Last One, 2022
ink and watercolor on paper, framed
33,5 x 37,5 cm

In private collection

Flying Papers (Dark Garden), 2021
oil, acrylic and ink on canvas, 140 x 185 cm

In private collection

Knot
31 May – 28 Jun 2019

Night-time Entrance, 2018
oil, ink and acrylic on canvas
200 x 180 cm

In private collection

Knot
31 May – 28 June 2019
installation view

Suomenlinna Tennis, 2019
ink and watercolour on paper
33 x 27 cm

In private collection

E, 2016
acrylic on canvas
240 x 140 cm

In Vexi Salmi Collection

Violet on Sand, 2019
acrylic and oil on canvas
31 x 28 cm

In private collection

Nocturne, 2016
acrylic and watercolour on paper
39 x 36 cm

In private collection

Stormy, 2019
acrylic and oil on canvas
250 x 200 cm (in two parts)

In private collection

E
27 Oct – 20 Nov 2016

Swimming Stadium and a Room, 2016
acrylic and oil on board
170 x 122 cm

In private collection

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

Rainy Lady, 2020
ink, acrylic and watercolour on paper, framed
68 x 46 cm

Little One, 2021
bronze, stone
10 x 8 x 8 cm

Punos, 2019
lithography
115 x 90 cm
Edition of 10

Daisy (Riihitie), 2020
ink on paper, framed
33,5 x 27 cm

Sisilia, 2016
watercolour and ink on paper
16,5 x 21 cm

Shower Room, 2017
ink and watercolour on paper, framed
32 x 27 cm

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BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

KAROLIINA HELLBERG’S (b. 1987) works range from large and sumptuous paintings in oils and acrylic to precisely executed, even palm-sized works on paper. The core motifs of her works are rooms, interiors and buildings, and she draws inspiration from places, people and stories that appeal to her.  The enigmatic nature and narrative tensions of her works lead viewers to the realms of the imagination and memories.

Interiors and buildings with their courtyards are among the main themes of Hellberg’s works. They delineate a recognisable space in them, which is nonetheless in many ways impermanent. The room of a painting can contain several levels of time and be made of a combination of real, remembered and imaginary places. A mirror or painting hung on the wall of a room – a picture within a picture – leads the gaze beyond the boundaries of the visible space. There are hardly any people in the paintings, but the spaces are inhabited, and not by a minimalist. Countless details painted with confidence – indoor plants, wallpaper, furniture, vases, piles of books and artworks – invite viewers to immerse themselves in a story told with the means of painting.

Despite their smaller format, Hellberg’s drawings in watercolour and ink are on an equal footing with her paintings, and she produces her works in different media as entities: the viewer can see the same detail in several works. She aims at the lightness characteristic of her drawings also in the brushwork of her larger paintings. For Hellberg, painting itself and the mark of the brush are just as important reasons to paint as the moods and stories in the works.

CV

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K A R O L I I N A  H E L L B E R G

Born 1987 in Porvoo, Finland
Lives and works in Helsinki, Finland

EDUCATION
2015 MFA, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
2013 Slade School of Fine Art, London
2012 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
2008–2009 Visual culture programme, Pekka Halonen Academy, Tuusula

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022
    • I Gave Them my Nights and They Gave me Back my Days, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen
  • 2020
    • Under Marguerite’s Bed, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavik
    • What Do You Mean, You Don’t Remember?, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen
  • 2019
    • Knot, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Pro Arte Exhibition, Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki
  • 2017
    • Forget Me Not, Finnish Institute, Saint Petersburg
  • 2016
    • E, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki (with Joseph James)
    • Ville, HAM Helsinki Art Museum Gallery, Helsinki
  • 2015
    • Dark Garden, Gallery Kulma, Porvoo Art Factory
  • 2014
    • Guggenheim art club at Kaiku, Helsinki (visiting artist)
  • 2012
    • Fight!, Napa Gallery, Helsinki
  • 2011
    • Tunafish, Kapina Gallery, Helsinki
  • 2009
    • Artist of the Month (December) at the library of Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
    • Mitäs tytöt?, Vaihtolava, Night of the Arts, Helsinki
  • 2004
    • Bar Mary, Porvoo

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2022
    • Toast, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Sinua, Sinua Rakastan, Lokal Gallery, Helsinki
    • Sow Water Harvest, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen
  • 2021
    • The Cholmondeley Ladies, Elizabeth XI Bauer, London
    • Between Us, Amos Rex, Helsinki
  • 2020
    • Mad Love: Seppo Fränti Collection, Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum
  • 2018
    • On the Homefront, Galleri Kant, Copenhagen
    • Upside Down, Kuopio Art Museum
  • 2017
    • Porvoo Triennial 2017
    • Keskeneräiset utopiat, Alvar Aalto’s Villa Kantola, Sunila, Kotka
    • Klassikot – Classics with WSOY, Helsinki Contemporary
    • The Tower of Presence, Finlandsinstitutet, Stockholm (with Laura Väinölä)
  • 2016–2017
    • Economy Plus, Gallery Elverket, Ekenäs (with Benjamin Orlow)
  • 2016
    • Salon de Porveux, Porvoo Kunsthalle
    • Haava – Seppo Fränti Collection, Lapinlahden Lähde, Helsinki
    • 18.98 Hz, Götan maailma, Helsinki (curated by Ulla-Maija Pitkänen for the Praxis Master’s Programme, with Antti Kytömäki and Taneli Rautiainen)
  • 2014
    • Bravo, Peckham Rye Studios, London
    • Tänään kotona / Hemma hos, home exhibition by Juha-Heikki Tihinen and Magnus Strandberg
    • Kuvan Kevät – MFA Degree Show, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
  • 2012
    • Taidebussi – Art on Wheels, Night of the Arts, Helsinki
    • BFA Degree Show, Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Helsinki
    • Landscape Beyond the Border, South Karelia Museum, Lappeenranta (with the Aidon rajalla group)
  • 2011
    • Pop-up Gallery Kymmenen, in cooperation with Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary, Helsinki
    • Landscape Beyond the Border, Kerava Art Museum (with the Aidon rajalla group)
  • 2009
    • Afterparty, Kaiku Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki

ART FAIRS
2022 Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen, Galleri Kant
2022 Art Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Galleri Kant
2021 Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen, Galleri Kant
2020 Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen, Galleri Kant
2018 CHART Art Fair, Copenhagen, Galerie Anhava

PUBLIC ART WORKS
2022 Lilacs, Anemones and Wind, Kallio General Upper Secondary School, Helsinki (City of Helsinki’s art collection)

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
Academy of Fine Arts’ Collection, Helsinki
Seppo Fränti Collection, deposited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
HAM Helsinki Art Museum
Päivi and Paavo Lipponen Fund, deposited at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
The Saastamoinen Foundation Art Collection, Espoo
The Finnish Art Society
Vexi Salmi Collection at Hämeenlinna Art Museum

Private collections in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, England, Belgium, United States, France, Iceland, South Africa, Spain

PRIZES AND NOMINATIONS
2018 Didrichsen Pro Arte award, Finland

SELECTED RESIDENCIES
2020 Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavík, Iceland
2018/2019 The Academy of Fine Arts Foundation, Helsinki: HIAP, Suomenlinna, Helsinki 
2014 Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris
2011 Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki: Academy of Fine Arts residency, Berlin

SELECTED OTHER ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES
2020 Artek 85th Anniversary poster
2020 Artwork for the cover of Otto Donner’s book “Alla de Levande och Alla de Döda”
2017 Book cover design for the WSOY 12 Classics project (Tove Jansson: Moominpappa at the Sea)
2015 Collaboration with Samuji, including curating the Spring show, concept planning for collection videos, design for Annual Scarf
2014 Member of the art collective Helsingin Feministinen Salaseura
2013 David Zwirner Gallery, London, internship
2012–2013 Founding member, illustrator and writer for the art tabloid 13-toista (published by University of the Arts)
Writing a blog for the Academy of Fine Arts
2011 Pop-up Gallery Kymmenen, in cooperation with Gallery Kalhama & Piippo Contemporary, Helsinki
(curator, producer, artist)
2008– Member of the culture collective Mitäs tytöt?