Kai Noramies  was an artist, illustrator, chemist and philosopher from Helsinki, Finland. Noramies studied art at the University of Helsinki’s drawing-room and Helsinki’s Free Art School. In the 1950s and 1960s, he represented the Association of Finnish Sculptors at the Finnish Workers’ Educational Association. Noramies was also a member of the Finnish State Art Committee between 1958–1961. Noramies was a member of the Artist’s Association of Finland and senior artists. He created his own art philosophy around his work, which combined art and chemistry. As a chemist, he developed new painting and sculpting techniques. Noramies worked as a food chemist at the Finnish Cooperative Wholesale Association’s (OTK) central laboratory between 1948–1966.

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Noramies participated in numerous exhibits in both in Finland and abroad. His art received praise in Finland, France, Italy, Australia, and Bulgaria. The Academy of Fine Arts in Rome granted him the Tommaso Campanella award for his achievements in art in 1970. Noramies’ exhibit at Kunsthalle Helsinki in 1975 ended up being his last. Kai Noramies’ works are now in the collections of various Finnish companies, private persons, art collectors in Finland and abroad, as well as art museums, such as HAM in Helsinki and art museums in Tampere and art museum Didrichsen in Helsinki. He also won numerous sculpting and painting contest, the most significant one of which resulted in his sculpture Nuorten leikki (Young Play, shown here) to be displayed in a public park in Helsinki. 

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“The main intent of my art is to convey a spiritual message. I envisioned a counterpoint for DNA, which signifies a material continuum of information, in the form of a spiritual code that is best seen in one’s children. Conveying this message is the base intent of my art.”

K.N. 1976

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“We are at the brink of a universal crisis. Progress is impossible without revising our attitudes and goals. The two of us, the three of us, the many of us.”

K.N. In Tammisalo, on 11 September, 1976

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After the series of sculptures ”The Löytäkää meidät (Find us)" finished in 1975, Kai Noramies claimed to have realized the reason he was born through his art. It is his testament to humanity; to understand children and childhood as the basis of a human’s life cycle and the key to humanity’s well-being and peacefulness.

The Family Federation of Finland has a tradition of giving out small bronze sculptures based on Kai Noramies’ work Tirkistys tulevaisuuteen (A Glimpse into the Future) from his Löytäkää meidät series as an award for Finnish persons or communities that have done outstanding work for Finnish children and families, as well as for related research. Recipients of this award include e.g., Prof. of psychology, emerita Liisa Keltikangas-Järvinen, Mrs. Eeva Ahtisaari and fatherhood researcher Ph.D. Jouko Huttunen.

Art historian (Dottoressa in Lettere) Meri-Kirsi Koponen did a thesis on Kai Noramies’ art in the Catholic university of Milan in 2003. Her Master’s thesis, written in Italian, is about Noramies’ sculptures and their philosophy. Koponen dedicated the thesis to the memory of her grandfather, Kai Noramies.

Meri-Kirsi Koponen organized numerous exhibitions for Noramies’ art in Milan between 2004–2006, including a private exhibition in Galleria Artesanterasmo, featuring the Löytäkää meidät series of small sculptures and the Apostolit lapsina (Apostoles as Children ) series of graphics. There was also a joint exhibition at Galleria D`Arte Eustachi, and the sculpture Lapsi (Child) was featured at a charity exhibit at the Palazzo Dell´Arengario.

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Read more about his work and mission Kai Noramies – English – Kai Noramies

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