Elizabeth Xi Bauer is delighted to announce the co-representation of Finnish artist Karoliina Hellberg. Widely regarded for her large, vibrant oil, acrylic, and ink canvases, Hellberg’s work immerses the viewer in a world of dream-like visions, symbols, and spaces that fuse the ethereal with the everyday.
Karoliina Hellberg is co-represented with Galerie Anhava, one of Finland’s leading galleries, founded in 1991. Galerie Anhava focuses on contemporary Finnish and international art with a specific focus on the Nordic countries. Hellberg is also represented by Galleri Kant, established in 2004, with galleries in Copenhagen and Palma de Mallorca. Kant works with artists predominantly from Scandinavia and Europe. The artist is also supported by The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
The artist’s first UK solo exhibition, Labyrinth, took place at Elizabeth Xi Bauer, Deptford, in the summer of 2024. Showcasing a series of large-scale paintings, watercolours, and prints, Labyrinth explored the liminal space between memory and fantasy through hypnotic representations of domestic settings suffused with natural imagery. In 2025, Hellberg also featured in the Inaugural Exhibition of Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s second London space.
Hellberg paints the space between memories and fantasies, heightened by her recurring use of intense colour throughout her works. Confident yet sensual brush strokes merge the foreground and background, highlighting areas rich in detail while allowing the works to appear flat and challenge our understanding of how we navigate the physical world. Employing these techniques, Hellberg builds a captivating and enchanting world.
“Paintings are true, but not true to life. I have not just decided to build interiors out of this rather messy, chaotic world and fill them full of beautiful objects and, maybe, lots of flowers. The spaces and moods in my paintings have been influenced by the environment in which I grew up and the kind of places I feel to be important. Since the spaces in my paintings are collages of metaphorical and psychological elements, they usually don’t reflect just one place or experience. I think you can see sorrow, melancholy and fear in my works, but also happiness and enjoyment. It’s a way of looking at the world from your own point of view, things are often complex and the same space contains different truths.”
– Karoliina Hellberg
In 2025, Hellberg was among the artists featured in the British Museum’s major exhibition, Nordic noir: works on paper from Edvard Munch to Mamma Andersson (October 2025 – March 2026). Bringing together over 150 works by 100 artists across the Nordic countries, Nordic Noir foregrounds the vital urgency to preserve the unique natural landscape of the region, expressed by artists from the 19th century to present day. Following her inclusion in the exhibition, Hellberg’s ink and watercolour sketch, A walled garden at night (2023), has since been acquired for the British Museum’s permanent collection.
The artist’s work is further represented in major institutional collections across Finland, including the Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki Art Museum, The Academy of Fine Arts Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, The Finnish Art Society, Didrichsen Art Museum, and Hämeenlinna Art Museum.
Hellberg will return to Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s exhibition programme in May 2026 for an off-site exhibition in Milan, Italy, in partnership with CFALive. Following this, the artist will present a selection of new works at the gallery in December – marking her solo debut at EXB’s Exmouth Market location.
