< About

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.