Mårten Medbo b. 1964

Mårten Medbo is one of Sweden's foremost ceramic sculptors and the first Swede to earn a doctorate degree in applied art. His sculptures can be both strange and appalling, yet playful and humoristic. They shift between abstraction and figuration, form and function. Each sculpture consists of a number of wheel-thrown elements which, when attached and manipulated by Medbo's hands, create surreal sculptural forms. In his world anything is possible as he confidently balance between wit and fright, grace and the grotesque.

Mårten Medbo (b. 1964, Järfälla) lives and works in Katrineholm. He is educated at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, and at Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, Washington. In 2016, he received a doctorate degree in applied art from HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg, becoming the very first Swede to earn the title. Previous solo exhibition venues include Galerie NeC, Paris (2022, 2018, 2011, 2009), Berg Gallery, Stockholm (2021), Ebelingmuseet, Eskilstuna (2019), Larsen Warner, Stockholm (2018, 2015), Katrineholms Konsthall (2017), and Institut Suédois, Paris (2013). In addition, his works have been included in numerous group exhibitions, including Sörmlands museum, Nyköping, Steneby Konsthall, Dals Långed, Vogooze Gallery, Seoul, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal, Venus over Manhattan, New York, Design Museum Gent, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, and Crafts Council, London.

Medbo is represented in the collections of Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Röhsska Museum, Gothenburg, Public Art Agency Sweden, Smålands Museum, Växjö, Eskilstuna Konstmuseum, John Michael Kohler Art Center (US), and the Icelandic Museum of Design and Applied Art, as well as in many private collections throughout Europe and North America.