Juha Arvid Helminen's Dark Dystopian Art
We have had the pleasure of interviewing Finnish fine art photographer and sculptor Juha Arvid Helminen twice, for our Summer 2020 Issue and a year later in July 2021. These interviews from our archives dig into the artist’s dark dystopian art.
Sculptures from the Noxian Imperium series
A Short Introduction
As a photographer, where do you usually shoot for your series? Is indoor decor a required prop?
Juha Arvid Helminen: Portraits at home and larger sets at a studio. Funny how I started my career in my parents’ basement using a construction light and some small digital camera.
What kind of gear do you usually shoot with?
JAH: The only camera I liked in my school days was the Mamya RZ. It had magic, but in the end is just a tool like the rest. In my art, I spend most of my time finding outfits and reading about history. The shoot is such a small part of it all.
Photograph “Dogma”
Photograph “The Queen of the Invisible Empire”
I know you’re generally inspired by historical events. Do you also have any specific artists who inspire you?
JAH: My love of textures comes from Tom of Finland. Enki Bilal had this odd disconnection with surroundings and amazing color palette.
And what motivates you?
JAH: At this point? Hum, I just need to work, getting the pain away. Two years ago I would have said human stupidity.
Who is the real Juha Arvid? What are your hobbies, aside from photography and sculpture? What is your typical day?
JAH: I have a strong will, generally I start what I finish. Surprisingly, I am really bad at hobbies that are creative. I tried to make model kits, but it was like why in the hell? Do I make a kit like the construction sheet tells? I ended up molding them: put a plastic cola bottle as a turret on a tank kit and painted it like it was a WW2 Sherman. Love that one, but yes, I always must do it my way. Otherwise, I am funny, not dark and moody. Atheist Lutheran, dyslexic perfectionist. Man of many contradictions. Always an outsider. The pain is inside. Not many see it. I don’t really listen to metal even though many think so. ABBA’s “Eagle” has more metal than most metal. I sleep late, wake up, eat, watch YouTube, do a magazine photo gig and then sculpt, plan exhibitions, write interviews, go to a library to draw, eat, see a friend, sculpt, do photo editing, make resin castings and silicone molds, paint sculptures, try stuff. I fail and try again. I watch a movie and go to sleep late again. I chat all day with friends all around the world.
About His Art
What is the meaning of unity in your art?
JAH: We always must ask what unites a group of people? Idea? Ethnicity? Religion? Unity of ethnicity or religion is weak in the long run. You keep finding the ones that “do not fit” with the group. And then, little by little this unity makes you weak. The Axis lost the war for many reasons but one of the reasons was that “weak unity”, meaning we don’t take you or you or you thanks to your heritage. Or we arm you but we look down on you. Hitler lost because he was a Nazi. The old wisdom stands, if you stand part of the majority, it’s time to reflect and look into the mirror. Unity is strongest when individualistic.
Years ago, you collaborated with seven young Finnish designers to release When The Tape Runs Out, which explores conformity. You normally focus mainly on black color in your work, how was it different to work with white color?
JAH: We should not see absence of color as conformity. To me, these outfits were great thanks to the shapes and textures. I did the set as I just did white on white promo photos for the band Apocalyptica and wished to make more. I was lucky when the fashion students just did a set of white outfits. I asked them to make masks as I felt white eyes always look bad, like a bad marble statue in body paint. So they created these white plastic masks and head pieces in this regard. My goal was to make images in this non-space. White is naturally also culture-passed with its meaning. In Asia, people dress up white in funerals and here in all black. Like up here in Finland, inside many churches and other public buildings we had colorful walls but later many were painted white. In churches the reformist wanted to cover the Catholic illustrations. To me white is not a lonely color; sterile sometimes but not lonely.
You’ve noted that some of your masked characters in your series are women. Most people do not even notice it and take for granted that the imposing figures are male. Is it a medium to reveal human beings as genderless, ageless, and other prototypes?
JAH: Yes, some of my older ones had women for officers and soldiers, as a friend had this great winter jacket. I should make more now. Thing is I have two male models with whom I really like to work. Gender has meaning and no meaning. As an individualist it’s easy just to meet a new person as individual, and not need to think so much of the person’s biology. Men are more aggressive but history knows a share of women who have done horrors.
You often use sharp head coverings as props for your models. What is the hidden meaning of sharp headgear in your works?
JAH: The first one was on the Queen and inspired by Hollywood movies in which women had these tall hats like in medieval times. I have always loved this look and I then made my version of this. Later, I made other versions of it for soldiers, secret police, and doctors in my art. To me, the pointy hat is a symbol of authority. Also, it makes the images more exotic.
On Working As A Sculptor
You’re not only a photographer but a sculptor. Can you tell us more about it then? What kind of topics do you usually tackle? What style do you have?
JAH: I have done it more full time now for six months or so, some I did earlier. I have played around with disgust, memory, gun culture, and how we humans fuck up things and instead of fixing it we adapt to it. My style is realistic and I love to put my attention to detail. Working that little spot [for] hours at [the] end. Love that. Also I have loved learning to paint skin tones. I am still looking for my style on that. I am known for my black images, for a long time people asked when I’d do something different. Many saw my white images as something different. To me it was not so. Different means to jump from a media to others. Make magazines or sculptures not just another photo series. And truth is, inside my black photos there are many series but I just again and again fall in love working with just black.
What material do you usually use? Why this specific material? How much does it cost you for once piece? How long does it take to make one?
JAH: Super Sculpey clay original and [from] this a silicone mold and then resin casting. I paint it first with airbrush and then brush. Satin varnish in the end, that makes it alive. Hard to say how long, I work bit by bit.
What new ideas are you trying to communicate with your sculptures? What new ideas in comparison to photography of course.
JAH: Ask me that in three years or so. Then I will see where my art has taken me.
Artworks by Juha Arvid Helminen
On Community
How do you define your own style as a person? Do you consider yourself part of a specific subculture?
JAH: At this point I am the subculture of me. Lord! That sounds egotistical. As Ayn Rand said, “The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” But yes, I stay a lot at home and just work. Parties are also mostly at my home with old and new friends.
What generally is your friends’ reaction to your art?
JAH: They have that look like well that’s so you when I share my works. I’ve done occult, more mature content, fashion, and all that so they are never really surprised. More maybe when I suddenly started to do sculptures. But with my Finnish friends, I am just their schoolmate. But when fans become friends, we talk more about my art.
For people who have never encountered them, tell us what shows, galleries, or publications exist where they can find your work.
JAH: You can follow me on Instagram and Facebook where I do publish info on my exhibitions. If all goes well, I should have solo exhibition this summer in Tokyo.
What is your most cherished artwork?
JAH: All my art books. Love them so. Books will never die. It’s one of the most beautiful objects in the world.
Since you attended an art school, which was the most challenging assignment you have ever been assigned and done at school?
JAH: That’s a hard one. Maybe everything with writing as I have dyslexia. I wrote a small essay on the fear of the “freaks” in the movie of the same name. The teacher read it and he was the first to encourage me to write. I have time to time written since then as I am sometimes editor-in-chief in art publications.
What are you working on lately? What are your main projects? What are your challenges, unrealistic or not?
JAH: Mainly my solo exhibition in Tokyo this summer. For this, I’ll show old and new black images and I am trying to make a set of black sculptures.
We know that the world is changing. Geopolitics, economics, culture. It’s then important to question artists on their way of responding to these changes, as well as what purpose art serves, now and in the future. According to you, how will art look in twenty years?
JAH: We don’t talk of this much but art makes so much waste. Aluminum prints that are shown one or two times, oil paintings that nobody wants, I mean think of it, we artists always talk of saving the planet but waste so much. Always look in the mirror first. Can we artists be less materialistic and recycle more? If you would look into my cabinet, it is full of uniforms and props. I do find use for them more than one or two times but still. We are, no, I am the problem. I can’t end this on that line, can I?
Sculptures from the Noxian Imperium series
More Recent Work
From our July 2021 interview by Dylan Madeley
Through Covid you focused on sculpture more than photographing with models, can you tell us about that?
JAH: Apart from work gigs, photoshoots [were] few and far between. So, I have been making these figures and writing their back stories. Covid times brought this isolation to our lives as many of us have not really felt it before. But I do believe that you can't just shrug your shoulders and do nothing. Make the time work for you.
There are new sculptures you have made which are the Noxian Imperium series. I realize each sculpture has its detailed story, but feel free to share a top-level summary of what this series explores, like a primer before people have a more in-depth view of the pieces themselves. What sort of themes are being explored here?
JAH: I have been working on my photo series The Invisible Empire that deals with misuse of power through its aesthetics for some time, but because of the pandemic it was hard to get models, so I have put that to the side mostly. So, I started another project with some similar visuals and themes but with fictional back stories, they are more dark fantasy with extreme conditions and powerful form language. So, I started this 1/6 scale figure series Noxian Imperium. Too many times people think and ponder about some art series and then they make it and feel that it's a failure; I just like to start doing it and then see what kind of paths it will lead me on. Originally, I was meant to make one or two figures, but then COVID-19 started to affect my life, and I felt this kind of character study sculpture series is the perfect way me to spend my time. The figure series takes place in the future after [an atomic/nuclear war] and the characters are from different centuries and millenniums. I wanted to tell stories that some of you might not have been told in this kind of genre. Most of the stories are sad with no real winners. It all starts with the preacher proclaiming in the desert that a new royal house must be founded from the three largest tribes in order for humankind to live another age of the gods, what ever that might mean in the end. All this will happen with mutations, engineering accidents and perseverance. Most of the characters are addicted to different kinds of psychedelic drugs, religious fanaticism, and megalomania. The world is a strict patriarchy, but at the same time I didn’t want it to be copy of something that already was. There is no racism as all the characters are ethnically very mixed. There is gay marriage and so on. But people are stuck in this war-mongering society and the struggles of living in a citadel and its outpost in the wasteland and anybody who tries to escape it usually suffers. I've taken influence from many different sources, from history, from dystopian movies like Mad Max and Frank Herbert's Dune books. And with the characters I just wanted to have no real limits, like I have an executioner who has a huge hydraulic press in his helmet to crush peoples heads in, there’s a message runner with amputated legs so he can use blade prosthesis to run faster, and I have a preacher who got mutated by taking life-prolonging pollen gas and his face is just tumorous spheres. I often think one of the biggest hurdles for many artists these days is self-censorship, that they could take their aesthetics to the end but don't. To be honest I've never cared much for this kind of mindset and especially during pandemic days when I have spent more time alone I have abandoned correctness more and more. And the results of this can be seen in this statue series.
Following up on our first interview’s ideas and themes, what would be a healthier unity in your view? Might we emerge from this pandemic having learned things that would help us approach a better way, or might we end up regressing a bit, perhaps?
JAH: Homo sapiens is an interesting species; we adapt to things so well, but at the same time, we make the same mistakes all over again. I think I would be the wrong person to ask too much about community as I am eternal outsider. But my positive feeling about this pandemic is that when people have a lot of extra time they are pushed to find ways of spending time and better themselves with new skills or visiting old passions. There is some great beauty in all the art that has been created in these times. And maybe as people are sharing their works online in new groups, maybe this has helped them to connect with those to whom they would have not had conversations otherwise and then found understanding of different view points and ways of life.
See Juha Arvid Helminen's most recent work on his website and follow him on Instagram.
by Demona Lauren
Demona Lauren is a PhD candidate, and a self-described nu goth passionate for EBM, experimental, and ambient music based in Paris, France and Málaga, Spain. FOLLOW
This interview was originally published in the Summer 2020 Issue of Auxiliary Magazine and online in July 2021
For further reading… get the latest issue of Auxiliary and read more of our online media articles.