Amazing wooden sculptures

Back to Wood exhibition in Lahti Art Museum

The Takaisin Puuhun (Back to wood or back to tree) exhibition in the Lahti Art Museum featured 8 artists working with wood. *The exhibition was curated by Kalle Mustonen whose massive Death of the Gnome King was also on display. The exhibition displayed an interesting joinery of raw expression and fine skill transitioning through a thoughtful layout.

In the first room we are greeted with Pasi Eerik Karjula’s Island. From the four panels In the back you are immediately drawn into the iconic character of a Moomin troll with a title “.. and a suppository”- yes, I laughed. There is definitely quirky humor in these works with varying themes, and the method where burned surface where the drawings are carved out seems to fit that perfectly. On the opposite there is the heavy works, small houses rising from the bulky shape from a very big piece of wood, draw you to ponder our existence among the natural forces.

Pasi Eerik Karjula

Next we come across the playful children by Terhi Kaakinen, perfectly settled in the surroundings, hiding behind the pillars or sitting on the stairs, each showing their individual personalities. They seem very much alive and uncaring on how one should behave in museum.

Terhi Kaakinen

Then we have the very finely carved figures by Riku Riippa that have almost mystical quality to their presence, solemnly gazing through time or caught in introspection.

Riku Riippa

Kalle Mustonen’s Death of a Gnome King is something to awe at. This monumental sculpture takes alone 1 third of the main hall of the museum with its majesty presence. You can even go inside where there is a little room with homey furniture. In Finnish folklore gnomes or elves typically squatting in people’s houses or saunas and you and just imagine this being a very tiny space in a crack of wall.

Kalle Mustonen

Next to the gnome is a row of wall clocks, with roughly carved miniature figures of fairy tales and mythical creatures. unicorn in heavens, Virgin Mary with seven dwarves, and one dedicated to the gnome king itself.

Kaller Mustonen

I step into the smaller rooms at this point before continuing on the main hall.
Jasmin Anoschkin’s hyper expressionistic figures explode in your face full of color and joy. The awkwardly shaped beings just cannot take life seriously and choose to celebrate it instead. I could barely keep myself together as I saw the title of Swedish Unicorn taking swimming lessons This room definitely one leaves a smile on your face.

Jasmin Anoschkin

Whereas, the next room seems quite serious, but not without joy.
Mauno Hartman's Lovefrom 1977 is perhaps the most challenging sculpture of the exhibition. His work is based on old techniques of log building; the wood is joined with tenons and wedges. The piece begins to open up as you study the structure and see the careful markings on each joint, the roughly shaped pieces supported together, and how the color of the wood shows from between the burns. Art is not something that you are supposed to understand he said in a clip I watched before writing this, and I tend to agree. I suppose same goes for Love.

Mauno Hartman

Hanna Vahvaselkä’s installation Tiramisu hangs on the back wall of the main hall.
A woman is leaning on a plank under which the intricately carved towels are hanging, with a row of nails on the bottom side. The plates of glistening tiramisu desserts are flying beside her head like a thought bubble over another finely carved towel. The woman’s features are scribed on a flat surface with only the outline carved out. The sentiment comes through and you can really appreciate the choices of the different materials, still leaving a little mystery.

Hanna Vahvaselkä

And finally, like an opposing force next to the Mustonen’s Gnome there was the small army of figures by Jussi Valtakari- what a treat. These figures were carved with a careful attention to detail yet with such ease displaying liveliness and character - there is just something incredible about the way they flow.

Jussi Valtakari

Valtakari also had these playfully simple looking drawings sawed from wood.
And that was the exhibition. I thought it was wonderful display how simple material can be brought to so many levels with individual artist’s vision and personality. Hope you enjoyed this little walkthrough as much as I did the show. I made it very late and saw it in the last weekend, definitely could have gone for another round. Please share and let me know what you liked the best, thank you.

Thanks to the artists involved in
Takaisin Puuhun in Lahden Taidemuseo

Kalle Mustonen
Jussi Valtakari
Pasi Eerik Karjula
Jasmin Anoschkin
Hanna Vahvaselkä
Terhi Kaakinen
Riku Riippa
Mauno Hartman

Pasi Eerik Karjula

The pictures in this post are by me, the works in the pictures belong to the artists.