Mårten Medbo | Strange Love

The exhibition Strange Love features a new series of ceramic sculptures by Mårten Medbo. Each piece consists of wheel-thrown spheres, carefully combined into complex structures.

Through his exploration of clay as a medium, Medbo has established himself as a prominent figure on Sweden’s material-based art scene. Wheel-throwing is the core of Medbo’s practice, wherein he skillfully navigates the boundaries between the familiar and the unknown. The pieces often bear resemblance to anthropomorphic or biomorphic structures, without being fully identifiable as such. Additionally, it often appears as if they’re undergoing a process of organic growth or mutation.

The upcoming exhibition revolves around the ultimate symbol of human cruelty – the atomic bomb – and all works presented can be seen as studies of the bomb’s visual expression. Rendered in grayscale, the mushroom clouds and towering smoke pillars evoke the media coverage from the Cold War era. The title, Strange Love, refers to Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 feature film, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, in which he satirizes nuclear war planning and the concept of ”mutually assured destruction” (MAD).

During the 1950s and 60s, the United States conducted around 1,000 nuclear weapons tests in the South Pacific and Nevada. These tests, documented by American military photographers, serve as the foundation for Medbo’s ambiguous works, straddling the line between eerie, ominous, and seductive. Although his practice is not explicitly political, it is permeated with questions related to production, power, and meaning.

”The atomic bomb poses a threat highlighting the predicament of the manufacturing man: our capability to create things that evolve beyond our control, and our incapability to foresee and take responsibility for their consequences. To me, the production of artworks serves as a point of stability in a time when most things are in flux. So, on the one hand, there’s the depressing theme of the exhibition, and on the other hand, the solace found in art-making. And I hope this tension will be felt in the exhibition. It is worth noting that the role of the artist allows for reflection on what is being produced, indicating that thoughtful and responsible production is, after all, possible. I see some hope in that.” (Mårten Medbo, 2024)

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.