< 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
  • 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

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

Film and Website Credits

  • Director
    Esko Räsänen
  • Writer
    Selina Vienola
  • Typography
    Eino Korkala
  • Composer
    Timo Kaukolampi
  • Special Thanks
    Ilkka Kärkkäinen, Mikko Arhippainen, Iiro Rautainen
  • Supported By
    Taiteen edistämiskeskus