Bio

Klara Lilja is one way to be a woman and an artist, and it seems essential to see her life as the mould or pattern which creates the form and engenders the structures of life. Events in her life are not the example, but the abstraction – as with her behelits, starsuns, flowers, bodiless limbs- and bones – the constant array of unseen patterns. What first seems like abstract biomorphic forms reveals, when more carefully examined, an organic genesis of imaginative beings, flora, and fauna. Rendered in mesmerizing glazes, developed by the artist herself, the colors on the sculptures seem to blossom; from the glaze, or are they radiating from inside of them? That remains open. “The events that left their mark on me happened in days gone by, in my head”, Klara Lilja quotes one of her Symbolist heroes, the French painter Odilon Redon (1840-1916). Klara Lilja bestows her figures with an aura, and refers to the concealed inner world of the viewer. To bring out the magic in them, Klara Lilja gives each of her new-found species a proper name.

Klara Lilja lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. She graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2021. Her Instagram is a popular visual gallery where she engages with her 16K+ followers with humour and endless digressions about almost everything, while keeping her face anonymous. 

CV

Born 1989 in Denmark
Lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark


EDUCATION

2017 – 2021

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, MFA

2014 – 2017
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, BA


SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022
Mellem Myte og Virkelighed, CLAY Museum, Middelfart, Denmark
Mellem Myte og Virkelighed, Willumsen Museum, Frederikssund, Denmark

2021
Parangkera, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Cosmogony, Holly Golightly, Copenhagen, Denmark

2019
Philosopher’s Mountain, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2018
Dryade, Politikens Forhal, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mountain of Fear, Ping Pong Rummet, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark

2017
Genesis, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Graviton, Ekely, Copenhagen, Denmark

2016
Lilith (The Birth of), HELLO KORAL, Copenhagen, Denmark
Mystery Tamago, Gallery Oaji, Tokyo, Japan

2015
ADD TO BAG, Galleri Q, Copenhagen, Denmark


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
ENIGMATIC UNDERWORLDS. GAUGUIN AND LILJA, Ordrupgaard, Charlottenlund, Denmark

2022
Mystical Forest, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
V1 XX - Twenty years of V1 Gallery, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Art Herning, V1 Gallery, Herning, DK

2021
Guld og Magi, ARKEN, Copenhagen, Denmark
3×3 Eyes, Peach Corner, curated by Karen Harsbo, Copenhagen, Denmark
Nikolaj – Københavns Kunsthal 40 år, Nikolaj Kunsthal, Copenhagen, Denmark
MFA Degree Show, curated by Vermilion Sands, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

2020
Norman Fucking Rockwell, V1 Gallery II, Copenhagen, Denmark
COOL CLAY, Gl Holtegaard, Holte, Denmark
Today’s Special #3, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
FANTASY, group show curated by Klara Lilja, Collaborations, Copenhagen, Denmark
MINE IV, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2019
MINE III, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark

2018
Ordination, Sophie Tappeiner, Wienna, Austria
Tables, Pots & Plants – A song for Matisse, V1 Gallery at VOLTA14, Basel, Switzerland
LER, Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen
Art Herning, V1 Gallery, Herning, Denmark
Stum Sol, Galleri Q, Copenhagen, Denmark

2017
Pæne Ting, Galleri Christoffer Egelund, Copenhagen, Denmark
Gruppeudstilling #2, Carlsbergbyens Galleri & Kunstsalon, Copenhagen, Denmark
Vόστοςάλγος – Nostos Algos, Kvadrat 16, Copenhagen, Denmark

2016
Tastings, KIKshh (Kunst i Kapellet Sct. Hans Have), Roskilde, Denmark

2010
Forårsudstillingen, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark

Selected Works
Rafflesia Table. 2021
Clay, glaze, laqcuer (stoneware) on painted antique marble/wooden table
160 x 120 x 73 cm
RAFFLESIAREX. 2021
WHITE CLAY, GLAZE, LACQUER (STONEWARE)
34 X 37 X 22 CM
SPIRIT SKULL. 2020
WHITE CLAY, GLAZE, LAQUER (STONEWARE)
24 X 14 X 20 CM
Enchanting Mirror - Heart. 2020
White clay, glaze, mirror, wood, paint, stone glue (stoneware)
32 x 32 x 6 cm
RESURRECTION FLOWER BRONZE. 2021
PORCELAIN CLAY, GLAZE (EARTHENWARE)
26 X 25 X 5 CM
KLARA LILJA RUBEDO STARSUN. 2020
WHITE CLAY, GLAZE (STONEWARE)
19 X 19 X 5 CM
ABYSS STARSUN. 2020
WHITE CLAY, GLACE (STONEWARE)
38 X 35 X 4 CM
STILL WATER TWINSUN. 2020
WHITE CLAY, GLAZE (STONEWARE)
29 X 16 X 7 CM
Leaf Plate with Beans. 2021
White clay, glaze, lacquer (stoneware)
50 x 24 x 8 cm
Rafflesicon. 2021
White clay, glaze, lacquer (stoneware)
45 x 37 x 22 cm
Plate of Myzu. 2021
White clay, glaze (stoneware)
34 x 20 x 10 cm
PARANGKERA. 2021
INSTALLATION VIEW
v1 gallery
PARANGKERA. 2021
INSTALLATION VIEW
v1 gallery
Parangkera. 2021
Clay, glaze, laqcuer (stoneware) on painted antique wooden vitrine
157 x 40 x 40 cm
Kora Starsun. 2021
White clay, glaze (stoneware)
44 x 40 x 4 cm
Kosmochlor Vase Head. 2017
Yellow clay, glaze (stoneware)
41 x 42 x 26 cm
MONSTER HAND OF GLORY. 2021
BLACK CLAY, GLAZE (STONEWARE)
56 X 33 X 13 CM
Baby Moku Ren - Tide. 2018
White clay, glaze (stoneware)
35 x 26 x 24 cm
PLATINUM HAND. 2021
WHITE CLAY, GLAZE (EARTHENWARE)
31 X 10 X 6 CM
Hand of Glory Vase. 2018
White clay, glaze (stoneware)
33 x 30 x 27 cm

Store