Karoliina Hellberg (b.1987 in Porvoo - Finland) lives and works in Helsinki. Her core motifs are rooms, interiors and buildings in verdant natural settings. She draws inspiration from places and stories that appeal to her, such as the life of designer and architect Eileen Gray.
Hellberg rarely depicts people, but their marks can be seen in a half-full wine glass or flowers arranged in a vase. Hellberg is interested in the notion of aesthetic phantoms, which has become a methodological approach for her, an element of visual language.
Aesthetic phantoms appear as people who are absent, enigmatic rooms, recollections of old buildings or nostalgic visions. In Hellberg’s works, they are given their own space, where silence, an arrested state, momentariness and a tense mood of expectation are present.
The mood can be compared to a thriller where viewers sense that they will be shown a place central to the plot that will serve as the setting of an important scene. Hellberg, however, ultimately keeps the secret of the phantoms to herself. She shares a piece of the story with us, but leaves the viewer in a state of expectation.
Her artistic work is supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (2018-2023).
