| by Carl Kruse Friend of the Carl Kruse Arts Blog Helena Kauppila invites all to the opening reception of Ein guter Grund, a duo exhibition at Alter Kiosk Berlin. The event takes place on Friday, July 18th, starting at 18:00, and there will be a performance. Opening Reception Ein guter Grund Ernst Handl and Helena Kauppila Friday, July 18, 2025 18:00 Gallery location Alter Kiosk Berlin Grunewaldstraße 27 12165 Berlin-Steglitz The exhibition’s title Ein guter Grund plays on the layered meanings of the German word Grund—referring both to a motive or reason, and to the painted ground that forms the essential base of a work. This duality reflects both Helena’s and Handl’s shared interest in how thoughtful beginnings—whether philosophical or material—shape the unfolding of artistic process. |
| The exhibition unfolds along a circular route through eight interconnected rooms, including an underground section presenting some video works, and a tall transitional passage that holds Handl’s large textile piece suspended from the ceiling. Several sunlit rooms will be filled with their paintings, including Helena’s recent work Spring! (2025), 30 x 30 cm, oil on linen. Inspired by the special yellow light as spring arrives, this is one of Helena’s favorite paintings. |
| There will be some introductory words and a performance around 7:30 pm. About Helena Kauppila: Helena Kauppila is a Finnish-born artist and mathematician whose vibrant, intuitive paintings are rooted in a deep fascination with complex systems—both natural and computational—and a lifelong inquiry into the structures that underlie reality. Kauppila holds a BSc in mathematics from Caltech and earned her Ph.D. in mathematics at Columbia University. After completing graduate work, she explored painting at the Art Students League of New York, supported by the Reginald Marsh & Felicia Meyer Marsh scholarship. Today, she lives and works in Berlin-Weißensee, where her creative impulse flourishes in the balance between an urban environment and surrounding nature. Kauppila’s art is guided by a systems-thinking sensibility: she translates complex concepts from mathematics, genetics, and neuroscience into expressive, abstract works that bridge human sensation and scientific realities. Her practice moves fluidly between structure and intuition. Drawing inspiration from phenomena like ant colony behavior and genetic networks, she lays down pigments that reflect the interplay of individuals within a system, mimicking the self-organizing principles inherent in nature and society. In works such as Tree of Life, LUCA, and Elementary Particles, she encodes gene sequences into color, giving visual form to the essence of life’s blueprint. Painting is, for her, bodily—like dance. She begins her practice with movement, letting the body guide her brush, and sees the layering of oil paint as a tactile, sculptural act. Berlin parks, fluctuating light, seasonal textures and even auditory memories—like birdsong—filter into her visual vocabulary as abstracted sensations translated to color and form. Recent Exhibitions: Systems Symphony Hosted at Galerie Gondwana in Berlin (Aug 31–Sept 29, 2023), this solo show highlighted Kauppila’s exploration of dynamic systems and color interplay; an artist talk and chemistry-driven “Molecular Movements” performance accompanied the exhibition. Hidden Variables (March–April 2022) A two-person show at Project Space KIMGO, where Kauppila presented paintings informed by biosphere data alongside Diane Lavoie’s textile works, exploring human‑nature interactions from a scientific angle. Inside Infinity (2021) A solo exhibition at the Finnish Institute in Berlin that celebrated her genetic-series work and included ceramic tile pieces LUCA, based on last universal common ancestor (LUCA) genome structures. The striking tile compositions—reminiscent of a puzzle—were layered in vibrant glazes and conceptual rigor. Helena Kauppila’s art is a compelling marriage of intellect and intuition. She builds visual “bridges between mind and body, science and emotion,” creating works that pulse with color, depth, and systemic resonance. In Berlin’s vibrant art scene, she offers a unique, embodied perspective on how abstract scientific thought can unfold into vibrant, human-centered painting. Her works visualize the invisible—genes, systems, environmental sensations—and invite viewers into an emergent space where intuition and structure are equally honored. Carl Kruse =========================== The Carl Kruse Arts Homepage is at https://carlkruse.net Contact: carl AT carlkruse DOT com The Carl Kruse Arts Blog has supported previous Helena Kauppila events here, and here, and also here. Also find Carl Kruse at his mainblog at https://www.carlkruse.com |
