14. Ljusrum I och II

ARTIST: Pål Svensson (1998)
TECHNIQUE: Gneiss

“I want my sculptures to portray light, empty space and the space between. I contrast the density of the rock with the lightness of light, the mass of the stone with the nothingness of empty space, the weight of the rock with the airiness of the space in-between. The sculptures are a cupboard that catches the surrounding light. An opening on the stone´s backside attracts the light to make its way in. One or several pillars stand in the inner space clearly against the light thus concealing the opening on the backside at the same time. The space feels closed and unreal containing both light and darkness, and we look into another world.”

These are Pål Svensson´s own words explaining his works Lightroom I and II.

Pål Svensson, born in 1950, grew up in Gothenburg and attended Gothenburg University. He studied social planning, while at the same time attending an evening course for sculpture at the School of Applied Arts. Having worked as a secretary for the local government, he studied sculpture at the Gothenburg Art School and at the Valand Art School.

Pål Svensson had his first separate exhibit at Gallery Rotor in Gothenburg. He has also created a number of public sculptures of stone and metal. Some examples of these are: Sprung Out at the sculpture park of Hihult and Wanås, Slits in the city park of Borås, and then of course Light Cupboard here in central Kumla. The latter is a sculpture in the same style as here at Art at the Top.

Since antiquity people have believed that each sculpture is hidden in its material. Thus it is the labor of the artist to liberate the sculpture from its prison, in this case the stone block. One of the most classic examples of this is Michelangelo´s David who was liberated from a gigantic block of Carrara marble. Now it is one of the best known and most admired sculptures in the world. Material, form and possible content are thus united, at least according to the Renaissance ideals of form and beauty.

Pål Svensson´s sculpture connects to the ideals of form according to classicism. He lends a grace and lightness to what in fact has weight. Lighroom I and II point to an apparent wish to liberate the gneiss from its material. The works labor to make you experience the ability of the large stone cupboards to catch and reflect how the light changes over the day and the seasons. Here is a complex spatiality that both opens and closes as you move around the sculptures.

Gneiss as material offers a polished surface and a transparent depth that gives the impression of quality. The polished cylinders stand out as strange objects, as refinements of the original material. It is not the raw strength of the material that stands out in this work, but rather and idea of plasticity, an idea of the qualities of the space and how the light sculpts it.