Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins is a Latvia-born artist who works in several mediums, including printmaking, charcoal, and oil painting. Early in her career, Celmins created several pop sculptures and representational paintings. Much of her work reflects the photo-realistic, abstract, and minimalist styles, and nature and natural phenomena are themes depicted in many of her pieces. She is well-known for focusing on organic details and embracing natural imperfection. Celmins earned her bachelor of fine arts degree from the John Herron Institute, and she received her masters of fine arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has been the recipient of many prestigious awards, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and a 1996 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award. The work of Vija Celmins is currently on display in numerous fine arts museums across the United States and Europe, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou in Paris, and Kunstmuseum Winterthur in Switzerland.