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Note · 18 July 2026

[ku] 31/26 Art

Visiting the Caricaturists' Guild, Hämeenlinna.

Three very different caricatures of Alexander Stubb side by side on a wall, as a playing card, as an oil painting, and as a comic couple

The same man three times: Stubb as a playing card, as an oil painting, and as a comic couple with his wife.

Number
J31 / 31/26
Section
Art
Date
18 July 2026

Eleven artists, one president. At the annual Skarpit exhibition, Alexander Stubb becomes Caricature of the Year, and everyone sees the same man in a completely different way.

Eleven artists, one president

In the afternoon I visited Anu at Galleria RaamiDaamit, where Skarpit, the Finnish caricaturists’ guild, opened its 16th annual exhibition. Once a year the artists choose a Caricature of the Year, in Finnish a karikatyyppi, and in 2026 the choice fell on President Alexander Stubb. Almost everyone in the group has drawn him, and the beautiful thing is that they all see the same man in completely different ways.

Portrait of Zelensky made of tiny cartridges, black on white, framed on a white wall
Not a single classic line: Erkki Kangas composes Zelensky entirely from tiny cartridges.

From cartridges to oil

I was most fascinated by Erkki Kangas, whose portraits, seen up close, consist of hundreds of tiny cartridges, while from a distance you only recognize the familiar head. Timo Filpus told me how he drew the Scorpions live during an interview in 2021. And Tommi Lundberg, my anchor here, showed a completely different side than the day before: caricatures in oil, with large heads, long noses, and strikingly small bodies.

Three caricatures by Teppo Järvi on a white brick wall, in the middle Niinistö with a small dog
Teppo Järvi, in the middle former President Niinistö with his dog Lennu.

How the afternoon went on, who else I met, and how warmly people welcome you here, I have written down in full in the magazine.

Read the whole story in the magazine
Next entry
J30
17.07.26 · Art
Minttu Saarinen and the Future of the Exchange.
Here, chance always meets open doors. Perhaps that is the real insight of these first days.