Klara Kristalova is currently represented at the 61st Venice Biennale with the work “Lust for Life” in the Nordic Pavilion. The work consists of a fallen tree inhabited by enigmatic creatures in ceramic, bronze, wood and other materials. It is part of the exhibition “How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?”. The exhibition draws on Nordic folklore, myths and fairy tales, exploring themes such as transformation, belonging and humanity’s relationship with the world around us.

Klara Kristalova’s art encompasses both magic and universal human conditions. Her motifs often spring from nature, with handmade ceramic sculptures depicting trees, plants, young girls and imaginative figures with animal or flower faces. Kristalova views her sculptures as three-dimensional drawings. Perhaps this is why she succeeds in capturing the delicate and fragile, even when creating public works. Kristalova established herself through numerous exhibitions and public art commissions in Sweden before achieving her international breakthrough in the late 2000s. Today, she is represented internationally by galleries Lehmann Maupin in New York and Perrotin in Paris, as well as by Galleri Magnus Karlsson in Stockholm. Her artistic practice is also documented in a film by Bengt Bok, which has been shown, among other places, on Swedish National Television