The artists will be present at the gallery on Sunday 26 January from 12–4 pm.

Our exhibition at Galleria Sculptor consists of works created both independently and in collaboration. 

For the past ten years, we have been working on collaborative projects. The idea of working together came up during a conversation at an exhibition opening in the spring of 2014. The thought seemed intriguing and stayed with us. Working in the same space and moment would bring a welcome change to the otherwise solitary nature of artistic practice.

We gathered for our first ‘symposium’ in late summer 2014. Initially, the idea was that we would work on our own projects and be inspired by each other’s working process. But already at our first meeting the idea of combining our existing sculptures came up. Could they work as parts of the same work?

The turning point for us to create artwork together came in 2017. Jussi was invited to the Mänttä Art Festival and suggested that we collaborate. The result was the sculpture Saaristo (Archipelago). 

We meet regularly at each other’s studios in Taivalkoski and Ii. In between, we work independently, either on joint or individual works. Working together is rewarding because it also brings new dimensions to our own practices, as we can develop, exchange, and comment on ideas with a colleague.

-Jussi Valtakari and Antti Ylönen

The exhibition is supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

Jussi Valtakari (b. 1955) and Antti Ylönen (b. 1957) have held joint exhibitions at the Aine Art Museum in Tornio (2020), Kajaani Art Museum (2022) and Imatra Art Museum (2023). The first public work of their collaboration, Nest, was unveiled in the new extension of the Lapland Central Hospital in 2023. The two artists are currently working on a work of 13 dioramas for the new kindergarten in Kannelmäki, Helsinki. Valtakari and Ylönen’s collaborative works are in the collections of the Imatra Art Museum, the Aine Art Museum and the Finnish State Art Collection.

Jussi Valtakari, is a sculptor and painter who lives and works in Taivalkoski, His sculptures are rooted in folk traditions; in his own words, they are folk-pop commentaries on the state of the world. Valtakari’s works address issues presented through the media, such as discrimination, age-racism, elderly care, and unemployment. His wooden figures convey both warmth and gentle irony. Valtakari graduated from the Lahti School of Art in 1978.

Antti Ylönen is a visual artist and photographer living in Ii. His sculptures are essentially based on time and emotion. The main material he uses is wood, which, as a medium, reveals the passage of time, seen in details such as growth rings or changes caused by the decay processes. “In my work, I want to honour the stories that wood contains. Not only to impose a certain form but to work collaboratively; to bring out the traces of time in the material and make them an important part of the artwork’s story.”

Ylönen has studied at the Fine Arts Department of the Orivesi College, at the Free Art School, and has participated in public art training organized by the University of Arts Helsinki, Aalto University and the University of Lapland. He has also studied photography at Lappia Vocational College in Tornio.