Kommande utställning: Veera Kulju 12–30/1 2019

Veera Kulju

”Sounds of Silence”, keramik

2019-01-12—01-30

Veera Kulju är mest känd för sina keramiska popkorn-skulpturer. Det är skulpturer bestående av många element med små variationer. I skulpturerna möts det högtidliga och det banala, det bräckliga och starka, ljusa och tunga.

Vanligtvis förknippas väl popcorn med exempelvis TV-tittande, bio och barnkalas. I Kuljus skulpturer blandas popkorn i porslinleran. De försvinner förvisso under bränningen, men dess form kvarstår. Det är som magi! Slutresultatet är ett mysterium, en underbar lek med material. En juxtaposition mellan de förgängliga popcornen och den hårda, ljusa porslinsleran.

Kulju arbetar både med keramik, textilier och video, ofta i kombination. Små keramiska skulpturer vävs in i textil. Ljuden som uppstår är som komna från skogen. Som i en videoinstallation där dansaren iklätt sig ett skulpturliknande textilt konstverk rör sig så att arbetet får liv. Det är som ett gigantiskt smycke, ett kroppstillbehör som kräver en bärare för att vara ett färdigt objekt. Videon med dansaren är en slags nyckel till Kuljus hela produktion.

Kuljus olika visuella världar har oftast ett tema. Ett är spegel-reliefer. Dessa sagoliknande verk skulle kunna komma direkt från Snövits elaka styvmor. Speglarna reflekterar inte utan absorberar snarare ljuset.

Utställningen genomförs med stöd från:
Stockholms stad, Kulturförvaltningen
Nordic Culture Point
Finnish Cultural Foundation

Veera Kulju är verksam i Helsingfors. Hon är utbildad vid Aalto university, School of Art and Design, Helsinki Applied Art and Design MA; Lahti University of Applied Science/Institute of Design Experimental Design BA; Vihti School of Art and Craft, Interior textiles, Artesan. Hon ställer ut i Finland och utomlands, några av senare års utställningar/projekt är ”Holy Wood”; ”Naku”, ”Enchanted Forest”, ”Kisses and Popcorn” och hon är bl a representerad i privata samlingar. Nyligen deltog hon i Chart Design Fair i Köpenhamn

Engelsk utförligare pressrelease i översättning från finska av Veikko Halmetoja, Artistic Director, ARTag Gallery, Helsingfors:

Pressrelease

Veera Kulju

”Sounds of Silence”, ceramics

2019-01-12—01-30

Veera Kulju is best-known for her popcorn-themed ceramic sculptures.

Alongside individual works, the popcorn theme is a concept consisting of many elements distinguished by small variations. The series of artworks contains conceptual playfulness based on dichotomies. The solemn and the banal, fragile and strong, light and heavy meet in the popcorn sculptures.

In popular culture, popcorn is a snack strongly associated with movies, children's parties and nibbling while watching TV. It serves as a metaphor for detachment, being on the outside. Popcorn is eaten when events are watched from the sidelines.

Porous popcorn sinks into the ceramic mass, it burns away during firing, but its form remains. This is like magic. The end result is a mystery, a wonderful play of materials, which one views with unbelief. The popcorn in Kulju's artworks is the form of popcorn, which in reality is valuable as a material. An especially fine juxtaposition is created when the popcorn sculptures are made from hard, luminously white bone china.

Kulju works with textiles, ceramics and video. Her starting points in selecting the medium are contextual, often combining different materials in the same work. Video is an element of installation, and small cast ceramic sculptures are woven into textile. She says she has worked on the weavability of ceramic pieces. This way, she has used the sound provided by ceramics as part of a textile artwork.

Sounds associated with the forest come close to playing the main role in a video installation, in which a dancer puts on a sculpture-like textile artwork. With the movement, the work comes to life both as a visual object and a shamanic costume akin to a musical instrument, reacting to bodily movements. It may also be construed as a gigantic piece of jewellery, a body accessory requiring a wearer in order to become complete. The dance work provides a kind of key to Kulju's entire production. It is based, like dance often is, on the balancing of strength and fragility.

Kulju's different visual worlds are thematically connected. She has founded her artworks on the theory of gestalt therapy, boldly making use of its premises. This has led her to consider the concept of the eternal forest. She created small, jewellery-like pieces from clay, weaving and combining them to assemble installations characterised by abundant fragility and an atmosphere of permanence and timelessness.

In this same world belong Kulju's mirror-themed reliefs. The fairytale wall-hung artworks could have come straight from the dressing room of Snow White's stepmother. In reality, they don't reflect, but rather absorb the light. They are constructed from similar small hand-crafted pieces as the forest installation, but now the pieces are solidly combined, forming a complete sculpture.

Although Kulju's works encompass conceptual layers created through the materials, the aim is for viewing them to be physically experiential. Through the materiality and artistic idiom of her works, Kulju succeeds in conveying how they feel. Just by looking at the artworks, the viewer feels the differences between matte and glossy, rough and smooth, warm and cold in his fingertips.

Veikko Halmetoja, Artistic Director, ARTag Gallery, Helsinki

With support from:
Stockholms stad, Kulturförvaltningen
Nordic Culture Point
Finnish Cultural Foundation