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magnifying and intensifying that natural movement so that it can be brought into sharper focus and take on a clearer
meaning for the viewer.
Light has a strong presence in the Gränslandet installation,
as does intense colour and a design language that
uses refined combinations of patterns with opaque and
clear open surfaces. Experimentation with the way glass
plays with light has introduced dimensions of contrast –
glass against stone, light against heavy, metal and glass,
matt and shiny; and the contrast between graceful and
grotesque as demonstrated in the curious bird-forms of
the Borderland.
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Bird-form from 'Granslandet' installation, 2002, cast glass, ht 17.4 cm
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| Each sculpture is mounted on a purpose-built, sturdy
metal plinth which doubles as a source of illumination,
projecting a bright beam of light through the base of each
piece. Combined with the reflected light from heavily
textured and vividly coloured surfaces, the transmitted
light from the interior of the sculptures creates a most
spectacular visual effect. This is all the more enthralling
on close inspection because contained beneath the mostly
opaque surface of each form exists another universe, a
phantasmagoria of imagery, both figurative and symbolic
as well as abstract.
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| The relationship between glass and light is paramount.
Light travels in a straight line but the artist wants it to
bend in different ways as seen in a reflection on water.
It is difficult to imagine the trials and tribulations that
must have transpired in order to realise these objects in
glass, given that Engman has at his disposal a team of
12 assistants who are among the finest technicians in the
field. No solitary glass artist could aspire to make such
pieces. Even with the full resources of Kosta Boda and
generations of technical expertise to draw upon, the task
must have been challenging. On viewing Gränslandet, it
is feasible to speculate that the larger works could not
have materialised anywhere else other than Kosta Boda.
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| The rationale for such a statement is Engman’s “experimental
workshop”, his “laboratory of ideas”, where all
boundaries and limitations are swept aside, where disbelief
in the impossible is upheld. Here glass undergoes
many vicissitudes and is subjected to numerous processes
– fusing, slumping, casting, cutting, moulding, grinding,
drilling, etching, sand blasting and blowing – prior to
being melded or completely embedded into a larger volume
of glass, which may then be subjected to many of
the same processes, but in a different sequence.
When asked why the forms inhabiting his borderland
were bird-like, Engman replied: ‘Inside the bird there are
bones, flesh and muscles, but for me there is also a universe…
an inner being…a whole new world encoded
within the bird which is capable of mutation and transformation.
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Kjell Engman
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'Borderland' (detail), cast glass, ht 17 cm
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| for me, both in my imagination and reality. The fish was
born in the sea and one day it rose above the surface. It
was still a fish, a flying fish. The fish started to walk on
land. The fish became a bird – a creature symbolising
freedom. There are many interwoven narratives traversing
and swirling through the borderland, and like the
spiral or double helix which contains the blue print for a
galaxy or a bird, this is what I want to create with light.’
On viewing the amazing pieces comprising this installation
one impression that comes through is Kjell Engman’s
irrepressible curiosity in extending the parameters of
what is possible in the medium of glass. But that is what
being an innovator is all about, taking whatever risks are
necessary in order to realise one’s aesthetic vision.
Earnest Reinfeld
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Kjell Engman’s ‘Granslandet’ installation was on display at the
official opening of the new OKB Gallery, Shop 121–125 Level 2,
Strand Arcade, Pitt Street, Sydney
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