Teija-Tuulia Ahola

Basic information

b. 1963, Tampere
visual artist
Residence: TAMPERE

Contact information

Phone number: +358401531353

Artist’s Statement

Gold is thought to have been produced by the intense heat of supernovas at the dawn of the universe when neutron stars collided. These rare cosmic events explain golds scarcity in the world. It is intriguing to work with a material born from such powerful and ancient forces, it is somehow divine.
Over the past twenty years I have developed and explored various techniques using gold, more recently I have included other metals like silver, aluminium, palladium, steel, copper along with gold.
Precious and semi-precious metals in the form of leaf entered my practice after realizing a series of large public art works for windows. I was interested by the way light changes during the time of day and season. I realized that gold leaf has a similar way of softly mirroring subtle changes in light, environment, and time. Reflections in the surface of gold are like a window into another reality.
The surfaces of my work are often highly decorative – I want to seduce the viewer into stopping in front of the art work and surrendering to it.
For me the immediate sensual experience of the viewer is often more important than an analytical response.
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Bio

Teija-Tuulia Ahola is a Finnish visual artist whose practice is wide ranging. Her
chosen mediums include works on canvas, environmental art, video installation,
and printmaking. She is known equally for her monumental public art works and
her intimate canvases. Her work has been exhibited extensively in her home
country and Scandinavia. She has participated in international exhibitions:
PHotoEspanja, Madrid, Centre d’exposition, Val-David, Canada, and solo shows
such as Timespan, United Kingdom.
Working with precious materials gold leaf, palladium, and silver, her
transformative process centres around the materiality of light. Her art works
resonate with a therapeutic beauty that provides the viewer with a space to
reflect on the complexities of life. Her work ‘Rose Window’, 1997 became a text
book reference for breaking the boundaries of printmaking in public space.
In her recent art works sorrow and joy, death and rebirth have become repeating
themes. Her research has taken from the immediate aftermath of forest fires in
the South of France to the flooded banks of the river Seine.
“Nature interests me. Human nature and the environment, countryside and
cityscape. Matter and light. I am fascinated by the power and beauty of nature –
expressed by a devastating forest inferno to the regeneration that follows.