17. Arken

ARTIST: Olle Medin (1999)
TECHNIQUE: Dark stained Wood

The wooden ark is sitting there like a big boat awaiting the Flood. Its artistic idiom is powerful. Everyone can understand that it is the Ark awaiting its passengers. The biblical Ark is described in Genesis 6:13-16: “And God said unto Noah…Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch…The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof ….” But Olle Medin´s art work is an ark for art, not for animals. In the summer time the Ark also functions as an exhibition hall.

Olle Medin was born in 1938 and is living in Kumla. As a child he had an accident, which prevented him from participating in physical activities. That is when his interest in art was awakened. After many years in technical jobs and training as a mechanic his painting and sculptural activities got started. He attended Örebro Art School and the Art School in Gerlesborg.

Medin has had a number of separate shows here in the Kumla area, for instance, at the Kumla library and at Örsta Gallery. He has had exhibits in Stockholm, in Gothenburg and on Iceland, in Norway, Denmark and in Paris.

In his paintings Medin aims for a visual impression, an experience of form and color. Simply put this is done in the hope of making the viewers see themselves in the work. For Medin it is important to tell something through his painting. Therefore he is unable to lie with a brush in his hand, either to himself or to his public.

Sometimtes it is light and bright, sometimes the opposite. It simply depends on the experience that Medin wants to convey. Even negative feelings must be permitted to take place. They do exist, in the world at large, as well in the private world.

In his sculptural work Medin aims for what is simple and pure both concerning form and material. For him recycling has a high priority and he prefers to work with materials such as wood, brick, iron and steel. He thinks himself that monumental works of bronze and expensive rocks are not his idiom of expression.

As a consequence, his work here a Mount Kvarntorp is made of dark stained wood. The Ark is open during the summer used as an exhibition hall. The ark is thus not only a sculpture, but also an exhibition hall and a meeting-place. The magnificent construction of the ark has become a landmark of the mount.