11.4. — 4.5.2025

I read news about space. However, I don’t understand much about their scientific language in general. What I understand is that space is everywhere around us: left, right, front, behind, above our heads and under our feet, and space goes on endlessly in all possible directions. The Earth hangs and races in the dark infinity, insignificant and small. For us, however, our planet is the home of our lives, the place of our memories. This is where we are born into our childhood, our old age, the changing seasons, surrounded by eternity.

Existence as a subject interests me, and depicting humanity has always been important to me. Experiences of fragility and fear are repeated in my images. In addition to people, landscapes are a recurring motif. I don’t plan my paintings, the work is created in the moments of painting, by making mistakes and succeeding on the painting surface. My style of painting is expressive and I often use plenty of paint. In addition to expressionism, my images can be influenced by surrealism and sometimes naivism, for example. Events in the world, such as wars, also sometimes affect my works. Making an image is a way for me to live and exist.

The exhibition has been supported by the Kone Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

Ville Välikangas (b. 1983) is a painter from Kirkkonummi, who currently lives in Kerava and works in Tuusula. Välikangas is interested in existential themes and depicting humanity. In addition to humanity, landscapes are a recurring motif in his paintings.

Välikangas graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Lahti Art Institute in 2015 and studied fine arts at the Pekka Halonen Academy from 2005 to 2008. Välikangas works mainly with oil paints, but he also paints with watercolors and gouaches. This is his tenth solo exhibition.