Hellberg’s work invites the viewer into realms formed by familiar motifs and the residual presence of human touch. Whilst interested in the physical structure of a space, the artist explores metaphorical and psychological currents which underpin the worlds she creates. Houses and gardens are animated through traces of human presence, such as flowers left on a table or water spilling from an overturned glass. Absence becomes a generative force within the work, prompting viewers to consider how spaces continue to evolve beyond the intentions of those who first shaped them. For Hellberg, moments of stillness become a site of possibility within the painting, where change continues to unfold beyond direct human intervention.
The exhibition title, Here is the House, is borrowed from a Depeche Mode song and also pays homage to the late artist Marc Camille Chaimowicz, whose practice has been an important source of inspiration for Hellberg. Chaimowicz’s exploration of domestic space, atmosphere, and the intersection of aesthetic and lived experience resonates throughout the exhibition. This influence is echoed in a series of sculptural elements installed throughout the gallery, including tables and mirrors that appear both as physical objects and as recurring motifs within the paintings themselves. By moving these familiar forms between image and object, Hellberg positions the house as both a physical setting and a conceptual framework through which questions of attention, perception, and human presence unfold.
Hellberg turns to modes of focus as both a mental and embodied condition. Her paintings consider how particular environments may support, direct, or interrupt states of attention, examining how the material world becomes inseparable from the workings of the mind. The artist asks what occurs when we enter a state of focus, how we arrive there, and how that condition shapes our actions. Rather than establishing hierarchies among these elements, everyday objects, plants, and cultivated materials appear as markers of choice and attention. Through architecture, design, and the arrangement of objects, Hellberg explores how surroundings quietly shape the course of our thoughts.
Hellberg’s signature lush palette explores the power of colour to evoke emotions, considering how sensations and states of mind are communicated through hues. Hellberg also employs shifting scales and viewpoints within her paintings: some are an entire room, whilst others are close-up details of, for example, a specific fruit or herb. Through a sensory interplay of colour, the eye moves between the intimate detail and the wider scene; associations form, dissolve and reform, revealing how meaning is shaped by where we direct our attention and what we bring to the act of looking. Hellberg considers how space conditions perception, directing the mind towards certain details while allowing others to recede. Objects and architectural details give rise to stories that the paintings never fully resolve. Seemingly familiar spaces are assembled through fragments, associations, and visual cues that encourage narrative projection while resisting certainty. Hellberg is interested in the speed with which meaning is assigned to images, and how closer inspection can unsettle first impressions.
Drawing on personal experience, imagined worlds, and the recurring symbolic language of objects, Hellberg operates in a collage-like way. Her approach to painting holds a dual meaning: how we process information and memories, and how we subconsciously assemble these fragmented experiences. Individual works function as chapters within a larger trajectory, each connected to the next through acts of observation and making. For Hellberg, there is a comfort in the notion that each moment in the studio leads naturally to the next, forming part of a continuous process. Like the objects in the painting, the studio becomes a space in which one observation often unexpectedly leads to the next composition.
Here is the House explores shifting states of focus and the dissolution of fixed boundaries between interior and exterior worlds, memory and perception, presence and absence. Hellberg’s compositions remain open, encouraging viewers to linger within shifting perspectives and layered imagery rather than settle on a single interpretation. Instead, meaning unfolds gradually through association and reflection, creating a space for sustained attention.
For the object-based works, Karoliina Hellberg has collaborated with Ville Aakula, while the lithographs have been created in collaboration with Ubu Noir. This exhibition is curated by Maria do Carmo M.P. de Pontes.
Karoliina Hellberg: Here is the House will run from 4th December 2026 – 21st February 2027, at Elizabeth Xi Bauer’s Exmouth Market location, open Wednesday through Sunday, 12 – 6 pm or by appointment. A Private View will be held on 3rd December 2026, 6 – 8 pm. The gallery will be closed from 21st December 2026 – 5th January 2027, reopening on Wednesday, 6th January 2027.
