The Wild – The Rise and Defiance of the Kuopio School

The art scene in Northern Savo erupted in the 1980s. A fierce movement emerged, using color mercilessly and expressing the inner worlds of the artists. The artists of the Kuopio school reshaped the local art scene with their provocative and sometimes disturbing style.

In the 1980s, Kuopio became a vibrant city of visual arts that attracted nationwide interest. Young, newly graduated visual arts professionals moved to the city, and the press began to refer to them as the Kuopio School. Key local artists of neo-expressionism included Pauno Pohjolainen, Markku Kolehmainen, Teemu Saukkonen, and Pentti Meklin. It is not possible to draw a clear line between those who belong to the group and those who do not. Other local artists featured in the exhibition and notable international neo-expressionists, such as Frank Stella and Rainer Fetting, provide a broader perspective on the nature of painting in the 1980s.

Kuopio's visual arts were part of an international wave in which figurative painting made a grand return to Europe and the world. The exhibition asks: what remains of this legacy when we look at it now, in an era of gender and identity diversity?

The exhibition brings you face to face with the art of the 1980s in its entirety. Large, impressive paintings burst with power and color. The exhibition boldly presents the true nature of 1980s art: daring, brazen and raw in all its glory, and at times also toxic in its masculinity.