CRITICAL GALLERY: VEERA KOPSALA – OBSCENE AND MISCHIEVOUS

In her series of reliefs, Obscene and Mischievous, Veera Kopsala (b. 1991) combines woodcarving techniques, traditionally seen as masculine, with the depiction of women. Kopsala wants to make the viewer think about how we see women of different sizes and ages; why, for example, sexually active older women aren’t shown in visual art; what feelings and thoughts seeing a sexually active older woman brings up. The exhibition makes women’s physical experiences visible and tangible and reveal deeply rooted cultural assumptions about them.

All the works in the exhibition are carved and painted on wood. Strong textures, three-dimensionality, the vitality of wood, and various sculpting techniques play as important a role in Kopsala’s work as the subjects themselves. She works the wood with an angle grinder, chisels, an electric saw, and paints it with acrylic and watercolours.

Veera Kopsala (1991, Nurmijärvi) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2022. After that she has held six solo exhibitions and participated in several group exhibitions. In the summer of 2025, her works will also be on display at the Haihatus Art Center in Joutsa, Finland. Kopsala has works in the collections of the Association for Rural Culture and Education and the Finnish Art Society, among others. She is currently working on a two-year grant from the Kone Foundation. The exhibition has been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Kone Foundation, and Versowood.

Thanks:

Heta Kaisto, Tapani Kokko, Maritta Kopsala, Siiri Kortelainen, Helena Lonkila, Laura Palanne, Sami Palanne, Kaisa Rajahalme, Mette Seppälä, Arttu Seppänen, Saimi Suikkanen, Kristian Smeds, Sami Nurmi.

Contact

veerakopsala.com

@veerakopsala

kopsalaveera@gmail.com