HEMULOORDI: CANARD EXHIBITION AT CRTITICAL GALLERY

HEMULOORDI: CANARD
26.9.-26.10.2025
Opening reception 25 September at 6pm to 8pm.

HEMULOORDI is an artist whose works are both carnivalesque revelry and politically charged agitation. His works are humorous through and through, as if humor were the only language she knows or wants to speak. In this sense, she resembles many other politically active artists from art history who drenched also their serious messages in humor.

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) made music that was clearly humorous and aggressively jokey, even when it was instrumental music. At first glance, his art could be mistaken for mere joking, without any political message, but upon closer listening and reading between the lines of his lyrics, his political pathos is revealed.

George Grosz (1893–1959) drew and painted works that depicted war,
poverty, injustice, inequality, hypocrisy, and the rise of Nazism — in a style so permeated with black humor that the works can even seem cynical. You have to look at them a little longer to see the desperate hope, compassion, and demand for change they convey.

Peaches (Merrill Nisker, 1966–) makes aggressive, feminist music whose humorous dimension is not apparent to everyone. She attacks patriarchy and heteronormative society in songs such as “Impeach My Bush” and “Fatherfucker.” Although her art is in partly based on trauma and bluntly political, it is also fun, party-friendly, and encourages euphoric dancing.

In my opinion, Hemuloordi is very reminiscent of the aforementioned long-dead old men, as well as the still-active Peaches. Hemuloordi speaks politics in the language of humor and art. It should be noted that only some of her humor is funny. Humor is an essential tool for her, both for defense and attack. It is needed for defense, because when a person uses humor to gain a distance on one hand from themselves and on the other hand from the stupidity and horrors of the surrounding world, they are liberated — not completely, but to some extent nonetheless — and can become active in working for change. Thanks to humor, they can act casually but decisively, without taking anything
too seriously.

Humor is, of course, also needed for offense. The oppressor’s hypocrisy, irrationality and unfairness can often be exposed particularly effectively through humor. Hemuloordi does this job effectively, but even though her humor is crude, it is not malicious, but always accompanied by compassion. She does not demonize her political opponents, even if she does give them horns and fangs in her ceramic sculptures. She simply points out injustices and encourages change.

The following are recurring targets of criticism in Hemulord’s works: Patriarchy, i.e., a world built by men, where a world led by men and based on values created by men is seen as a law of nature. Patriotism based on xenophobia and the preservation of conservative traditions, and the suppression of criticism of them. The destructive political use of sexuality, where sexuality is not a source of joy or an expression of love, but a form of violence and social control.

Manchester, UK, September 19, 2025,

Teemu Mäki

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HEMULOORDI (b. 1989) is a sculptor based in Helsinki who works primarily with ceramics and video. HEMULOORDI graduated with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2021, but has also studied art at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Art School Maa, and Savonlinna Art High School. HEMULOORDI’s works have been exhibited at the Mänttä Art Festival, the Nuoret2015 exhibition, and the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition in Copenhagen, among others. You can see HEMULOORDI’s public video artwork in the lobby of the Nokia Arena, where “Kiitos 19.30-20.00” has been running since 2020. HEMULOORDI’s works have also been added to the collections of Kiasma (Finnish National Gallery), The State Art Collection (Finland), the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, and the Helsinki Art Museum.

In 2020, the scholarship committee of the Raimo Utriainen Foundation (Tuomo Tuovinen and Alma Heikkilä) described HEMULOORDI’s work as follows:

“In the global digital environment, Hemuloordi senses echoes of Finnish monoculture, where literacy is learned from Donald Duck and shouting is learned from watching ice hockey. In Hemuloordi’s psychedelic-style mythology, the imagery, characters, and phenomena of popular culture, online forums, politics, computer interfaces, and art history flit between the screen and the tangible world, constantly changing shape.”