Pasi Karjula studied to be a carpenter at the Central Finland Handicraft and Industrial Art School in Petäjävesi. After graduating, he worked in several carpentry shops. Karjula had been keen on drawing as a child, and the idea of creating art began to appeal to him so strongly that in the mid-1980s he enrolled in Kankaanpää Art School and thereafter in the late 1980s studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. He graduated from the sculpture programme in 1991.

Pasi Karjula is known for his massive works in wood, which he fashions from logs using traditional masculine tools like a chainsaw, an axe and a knife. The works exhibit the traces both of the natural material and of the tools. He explains: I carve wood because it’s a familiar material and close at hand. One source stems from my childhood, the cultural history of the countryside. In my surroundings, wood has always been used to make something. Karjula’s idiom is minimalist. Almost geometrical basic forms that in his work change into similarly simplified architypes of dwellings, churches and towers or strange protrusions are repeated features in his oeuvre.

Chainsaw carving has in recent decades become a popular pursuit both in Finland and around the world, and international courses and competitions are also arranged for practitioners of the art. However, the works of chainsaw carvers differ from Karjula’s conceptual art with its multi-levelled content most essentially in their narrower subject matter, which is limited also entirely to animal subjects, and in their search for maximum visibility. As such, the chainsaw carvers have often succeeded incredibly well and have produced artistically highly skilful works. Also, the contexts in which the works are displayed differ from one another: Karjula’s works are on show in art galleries and museum exhibitions, while the works of chainsaw carvers are exhibited in competitions and public events.

There are eight works by Pasi Karjula in the Layers exhibition: Lumphead (2003), Hee hee hee … (2014), My World (2023), Huge Tree (2023), 8 Moons (2024), Holy Place (2024), Bad Day (2024) and Smoke Statue (2024).

Artwork:
Pasi Karjula, Holy Place, 2024
Pasi Karjula, Lumphead, 2003

Photo of artwork: Vesa Aaltonen