About the Artist
A visual artist with a background in mathematics, Helena Kauppila is deeply fascinated by complex systems and the phenomena of emergence. Although Kauppila's work is representational, she derives her understanding of representation from mathematics, which can get quite abstract. Correspondingly, while her colorful canvases may appear haphazard and unplanned, there is a systems thinking behind them. Her works reflect the order of the genome, the distribution of stars and numbers, the structure of mathematical theories, and the visceral human connection to nature and intuitive experience.
Born in London and raised in Finland and the United States, Kauppila currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from Columbia University and a B.S. with Honors from the California Institute of Technology, and studied painting at the Art Students League of New York, where she received the Reginald Marsh and Felicia Meyer Marsh Scholarship. Kauppila’s work has been presented at institutions including the Finnish Institute in Germany, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, the Miettinen Collection, and Kunsthalle Brennabor, and she has participated in an artist residency with iKSV in Istanbul. Her work and practice have been featured in Der Tagesspiegel, rbb Kultur, Columbia Magazine, Collectors Agenda, and Science Friday.