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.