Heikki W. Virolainen: Highbrow Fish

Heikki W. Virolainen, 1971.

The University Of Lapland's Collection

Painted galvanized steel. Measures 181,5, (height) x 338 x 50 cm, weight ca. 70 kg.

On 13 December 2017, Heikki W. Virolainen’s sculpture Highbrow Fish was unveiled in the Agora of the University of Lapland’s Faculty of Art and Design. The sculpture was donated to the University by the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

The sculpture Highbrow Fish by award-winning artist Heikki W. Virolainen (1936–2004) was created in 1971 and it is an example of international pop art with a particular Finnish twist. The work embodies elements of folk or backyard art and it uses straightforward expression – a combination which later came to be referred to as ITE art  (“ITE” meaning “self-made life”). The blazing colours of the work are reminiscent of advertising slogans. In this work, Virolainen also took liberties and boldly broke off with the concretist and realist emphases that prevailed in the art of the 1970s.

Heikki W. Virolainen studied in the School of Industrial Art between 1956 and 1957 and in the School of the Art Academy of Finland in 1957. He created several public sculptures, and for example a series of portraits of Finnish poet and author Pentti Saarikoski. Virolainen was awarded the State Prize for Art in 1969 and the Finnish Award for Art (Suomi-palkinto) in 1995. He received the Pro Finlandia Medal in 1994.