< About

• Artist
  Veera Kulju (b. 1975)
• Education
  Master of Arts / School of Art and Design, Helsinki (FI)
• Member
  The Association of Finnish Sculptors
• Atelje
  The Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation working facilities and studio apartment
• Represented by
  In Finland:
  Gallery Halmetoja
  
  In USA:
  Hostler Burrows
• Contact
  veerakulju@gmail.com
  
• CV
  FI / EN

White and black, delicate and strong, dark and light. In Veera Kulju’s art, all concepts find their counterparts to show that opposites can coexist side by side. Kulju’s art is touching. She invests herself, imbues her art with personal meaning, making it speak to us in a relatable way. Hence her themes touch us all. Her art speaks of what it means to be human, of identity, of different ways to exist in the world.

Instead of giving answers, Kulju urges us to ask questions. Her foliage-framed looking glasses do not throw back reflections as a mirror does, but instead they pull us in, inviting us to intuitively grasp the limits of our consciousness. Kulju is from Helsinki and in many aspects she isa town-dweller, but her true home still lies in the forest, upon a mossy tussock beneath wuthering conifers. Her nature-themed sculptures are timeless yet topical, transporting us from ancient woodlands and breathtaking biodiversity to mass extinction and climate crisis.Clay is an elemental material that lends itself to Kulju’s flow of self-expression. She kneads, clasps, squeezes and pounds it until it finds a form that is solidified in the kiln.Kulju is like her art: sensitive yet strong. Uncompromising in her art. She is an artist who intuitively throws herself into the creative process without knowing where her alliance with clay might lead.In addition to modelling clay, Kulju is a multidisciplinary artist who works boldly across many materials and media, from textiles to photography and video art. What ever her medium, her visual worlds vary in mood from subtle and delicate to raw and menacing.

Selina Vienola, art historian, writer

Veera Kulju woks and lives in Helsinki. She studied art and design at the School of Design and Crafts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Vihti School of Art and Craft, received a BA from Lahti University of Applied Science, Institute of Design, Experimental Design in 2005, and her MA in 2010 from Aalto University, School of Art and Design. She was the visiting artist at the Arabia Art Department in 2017-2018. Kulju’s work belong to the Finnish State Art Collection as well as the collection of the National Museum in Stockholm. Kulju has exhibited widely throughout Finland and internationally. In Finland she is represented by Gallery Halmetoja and in United States by art gallery Hostler Burrows in New York and Los Angeles.

Upcoming Exhibitions

• PUUN TAKAA -
  Mäntän Kuvataideviikot
  Pekilo, Mänttä
  11.6.-31.8.2023
• KIRJASTO
  K.H.Renlundin museo
  Näyttelyhalli, Pitkänsillankatu 28
  16.6.-27.8.2023

Solo Exhibition History

• A Horse, The Forest, A Father
  Gallery Halmetoja
  Helsinki
  5.5.–22.5.2022
• Noir
  Gallery Halmetoja
  Helsinki
  2020
• Metsä Palaa / Forest Returns
  Täky Galleria, muotoilusyksy
  Lappeenranta
  2019
• Sounds of Silence
  Konsthantverkarna Gallery
  Stockhom
  2019
• NAKU
  Mältinranta Artcenter Studio
  Tampere
  2018
• Holy Wood
  Gallery Halmetoja
  Helsinki
  2018

Group Exhibition History

• Ilo Olla
  Taiteilijat O
  Hämeenlinna Art Museum
  2023
• AfterGlow - New Nordic Porcelain - Remix on Bornholm
  Køppe Contemporary Objects
  Bornholm, Danmark
  29 April - 20 May 2023
• Summer Group Exhibition
  HB381
  381 Broadway, NY 10013
  June 24th - August 19th, 2022
• AfterGlow, New Nordic Porcelain
  Kunsthall Grenland - Porsgrunn
  Norway
  2022
• AfterGlow, New Nordic Porcelain
  Clay Museum
  Denmark
  March 27 – August 21, 2022
• AfterGlow, New Nordic Porcelain
  Gustavsberg Porcelain Museum
  Sweden
  June 4th 2022 – April 23th 2023
• CONTEMPORARY FINNISH SCULPTURE
  Hostler Burrows
  New York
  2022
• Ceramics Facing the New
  EMMA – Espoo Museum of Modern Art
  Espoo
  03.05.2021 - 07.08.2022
• Luonto Retki
  Nastola summer exhibition
  Nastola
  2021
• Solid Ground
  IAC Post Tour -program,
  Aalto University
  2021
• Coming home to Seoul
  FACTORY2
  Seoul, South Korea
  2021
• On the Edge – Äärellä
  Rovaniemi Art Museum
  Rovaniemi
  2021
• SIELUNMAISEMA
  Glasshouse Helsinki
  Helsinki
  2021
• Ceramega 2020 – National Ceramic Exhibition,
  Voipaala art center
  Voipaala
  2020
• FOREST PRIMEVAL
  Hostler Burrows
  Los Angeles
  2020
• Mexico & the Nordics: A Meditation on Individuality in Craft, Tradition, & Modernism
  Adorno gallery
  Copenhagen
  2020
• Dark Matters
  Art Center East, Gallery Riutta
  Lappeenranta
  2019
• New Artists
  Hostler Burrows
  New York
  2019
• London Design Week
  Adorno gallery
  London
  2019
• CHART Design
  Lokal gallery
  Copenhagen
  2019
• PERSPECTIVES
  Arabia Art Department Society summer exhibition
  Helsinki
  2019
• Collectible
  LOKAL Gallery
  Brussels
  2019
• RE/DEFINING FINNISH CONTEMPORARY ART & DESIGN, The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux & Spazio Nobile Gallery
  Collectible
  Brussels
  2019
• RE/DEFINING FINNISH CONTEMPORARY ART & DESIGN, The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux & Spazio Nobile Gallery
  Institut Finlandais
  Paris
  2019
• RE/DEFINING FINNISH CONTEMPORARY ART & DESIGN, The Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux & Spazio Nobile Gallery
  Spazio Nobile Gallery
  Brussels
  2019

Press

• View as PDF
  Taide lehti
  2022
• Read on Author's site
  Helsingin Sanomat
  2022
• Read on Author's site
  Helsinki Design Weekly
  2021
• Read on Author's site
  Helsingin Sanomat
  2020
• Read on Author's site
  Helsingin Sanomat
  2018
• Read on Author's site
  Suomen Kuvalehti
  2018
• View as PDF