My sculptures take shape slowly. What happens in the world has a strong impact on the content of my works, and, of course, my personal experiences also play a significant part. Hanging from a surprisingly fragile thread of life, the individual is often left with the role of a bystander. All of a sudden, our world radically changes and transforms without us being able to have much of an influence on it. Our memory of events is incomplete but our memory trace is intense. My recent works are descriptions of fragility in a human’s tragical and at the same time often comical wriggle on their journey. Part of the works in this exhibition comment on the pandemic, some of them on the war in Ukraine, and a few are made in memory of a deceased relative.
In my work, I use ceramics, glass, bronze and wood. I choose the material according to the content. I hope that the work is opened up to the spectator’s experience through each material and its culturally shared associations. In this way, the individual’s encounter becomes part of a shared experience. The abstract appearance of this shared experience is concretized by the sculpture. As part of my sculpture series Mihin kaikki katosivat I have commissioned a sound art work by composer Aino Tenkanen. At Aino’s request and under her direction, I played the tones she needed for the sound art work on my prepared violin. Aino Tenkanen’s sound artwork Mihin kaikki katosivat can be listened to during the whole time of the exhibition.
Maija Helasvuo (s. 1968) is a sculptor living and working in Hyvinkää and Riihimäki. Helasvuo works with wood, bronze, ceramics and glass. In her work she deals with experiencing the finite nature of life and social relationships. According to Helasvuo, in visual arts it is the sculptures that embody our abstract experiences into a tangible reality. Her works have been displayed in Finland and abroad from 1990 onwards. Helasvuo has studied sculpture at Institute of Design and Fine Arts in Lahti from 1990 to 1994 and later graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts with a master’s degree.
Helasvuo’s works can be found in numerous private and public collections including Finnish National Gallery, Jenny and Antti Wihuri foundation and Suomen Taideyhdistys collections. She was awarded the Ducat Award, Thuring Grand Prize and Hyvinkää Art Prize. Helasvuo has been chosen as a honorary member of the Association of Finnish Sculptors in 2022 and she was awarded Order of the Lion of Finland ー a Pro Finlandia Medal in 2023. She has completed several public art works in Hyvinkää and Joensuu.
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