Maria Ängquist Klyvare -Reflections 

Bild 1 karta över världen

I’m an artist, working in Sweden. A country way up north. 

Bild 2 huset med snö

I live with my parter in a house outside Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. (Invånare här- hemma)

Bild 3 jag o barnen

I have 2 children and 4 grandchildren 5 is on it’s way. I have used my children as objects in my work and also to help me practically. So the whole family is involved

Bild 4 gamma bild av mig ( från ekwc ( gamla hemsidan)

I worked as a ceramicist for many years. A group of us sett up a chop and a gallery where I had my first exhibitions. 

Bild 5 In our hands

Then I got my first commission and found that this was a way I liked to work - out amongst people in the society. Trying to give them omtanke och nyfikenhet.

I found a way of working that I have used ever after. I sit down at the space and and feel it in my body. How is the people using it, how do they move, how and where is the light. What would just this particular place need? If it’s only ritningar I get, I try to find me in the proportions and not just look from above.

Bild  6 His hand 

Got a commission job in the subways of Stockholm. The station was in an surrounding were   people coming from different parts of the world was living. I sat and watched a man  sitting doing nothing with his enormous hands resting in his knees. 

It’s was the hands of a man who had worked hard. I found my tema.

I wanted to v

Communicate with hands in a way that all would understand- without words.

Bild 7 Childs hand like tentacles 

8 Grey in Grey

My first memory of bathing without limits. My mother is holding me in her hands at sea

A space underneath a bridge in a park is going to be a place for children to play.

On one side is the berg ground on the other a wall. I sat and think about the space and how it could be used. In between the wall and the stone was a water pad that brought in the light into the space. I made it like a theatre with a fond on the wall a shiny stone scene for kids to preform in different ways and I clean the stone and made it a place to sit.

I tried to se how far I could go in abstraction in the size of the tiles. You could see it from far away it was very clear but as closer you get it’s more abstract. Take of your glasses. 

Helheten är förmer än summan av sina delar. 

9 She

A place in centre of Stockholm with a lot of men in black suits looking down into there iPhones. The place needed a She- a big one. A 14 m high arm is coming down through the roof and pointing with her finger- here I am, se me. I also made a bench with light inside to give the place a place to sit. 

The eye 

I was invited to make a big installation in a park around a castle. I wanted the park to come alive so I did a sound installation in an allé with big old trees. The trees was breathing. My and a mans breath together really slow. Was it the wind in the trees or...are they breathing. 

On the stoneground I made an eye in mosaic. Like something out of the earth came up to watch you.   

Maria Ängquist Klyvare 

Lecture 4 September 2019

Titel of lecture: Maria Ängquist Klyvare - Reflections

Artists statement

In my artwork I have a long experience of private and public artistic projects, interior design and environmental art. I focus on commissions or site specific works. It provides an opportunity to be in society and amongst people, rather then in a gallery space. 

It also combines my interest for architecture and art. When in a new environment, I’m a bit like an anthropologist, I sit down and feel the space, how it is used, who is using its strong and week parts. While the architect makes plans on a bigger scale and from the position of looking down at the work on paper, my way as an artist is to be there on the ground amongst the people.

In my artistic projects I often respond to social and cultural issues and female identity. My current project is focusing on the most powerful men in the world and how they neglect the knowledge of the scientists of climate change and a 16 year old girl whose voice is heard all over the world.

Description of works

In some of my site specific works I have been focusing on pixels and the expression of small parts   to show a larger scale. 

“The whole is greater then the sum of its parts” is a quote on the wall in my studio. 

Like a photo - if you just see the small dots it doesn’t say anything, but if you read them together you see the whole picture.

I have also used this method to visualise and understand statistics. 

In other works I have used light because it can have a magic affect and is also convenient to use in a dark country like Sweden. I have also combined light with sound with the intention of slowing down the atmosphere in a specific place. In my artwork “Sickla Water” there is one hour of electronic water sounds coming through 21 o from underneath the benches so people can lay down and listen and relax in a busy shopping area.

Overall, it’s not the material in my art work that’s important but what the specific site needs.

My project “China Girl” responds to frustration caused by the situation for woman in the world and  in China. It consists of sculptural art pieces made by clay, projections, video films and lectures. The project/exhibition went on tour to 12 museums and art halls in Sweden and has also been shown in Germany. One of the pieces was showed in TXC Art gallery 2016.

Two projects in Turkey reflect on the female body and identity in different cultures. One project was exhibited in Stockholm and the other in Istanbul, the Swedish contribution for Turkeys culture year 2010. 

General content of the lecture

I will summarise  my long term art practice and express how I’m working and thinking by showing you a selections of  projects.



 

Image list

Varberg- In our hands (picture mans hands)

I was asked by the subway in Stockholm to make a site specific installation for a station.

The station is in an area where people from all around the world lives. 

I sat down at the shopping mole nearby to look at the people using the station. I saw a man sitting with his big hands resting in his knees. It was hands that had been working hard since childhood. 

It gave me the idea to work with hands and there language, that can be understood by all. 

The installation has three images - man showing his hard working hands, a woman’s open hand, giving or taking and a child’s hand, like tentacles, exploring the world. Material Pixel mosaic ceramic

Grey in grey ( picture, close up on the mosaic)

Site specific art in a park, underneath a bridge where children use to play. 

My first memory of bathing in the sea. My mother is holding me. A strong and happy memory of feeling secure in her hands. I saw the space in three parts, like a theatre - the rocky part for the audience to sit the middle is the stage and the wall is the back of the stage. I cleaned the rocks made a stage of shine stones that made the light reflex into the space and the back is the mosaic Here the children could play and perform.  Material Pixel mosaic, lighting, stone and concrete pavement. 

She (picture, the vertical picture and the horizontal picture with bench)

This place is situated in the centre of Stockholm and is used by many men in black suits looking down at there iPhones. I wanted them to look up and see a She. She is a 14 m high arm coming down from the ceiling, pointing her finger to the floor saying - see me. Material,Pixel mosaic, lighting bench made of concrete, acrylic, stainless steel and led.

Giant Julia (picture, the eye in the dark and the picture of boy in the handsculpture)

This project is situated in an inner space garden where children can play.

Julia is my daughter and this is her eye looking out on the street. Inside the yard is her hand, big enough to climb on and to sit in. The hand is warm in the wintertime.

Material, Pixel mosaic, lighting, concrete sculpture with heater inside

China Girl ( picture, the mosaic on the wall and picture of me and the bucket)

An Art project response to frustration caused by the situation for women in the world and in China. The big mosaic was showed inTXZ Art Gallery 2016.

Material, Pixel mosaic, ceramic and iron handle, inside bucket a film projection.

Skimmer ( picture, close up of vertical forms in dark and close up picture of round forms in dark or with the whole image.)

For a hospital site, the ambulance entrance and outside head entrance.

I wanted to work with light as Sweden, half the year, is almost dark. Working with 3 different metal, painted with green colour on the backside. The light behind the metal reflect the colour to the concrete wall. Material, iron, aluminium, stainless steel and led.

Children of the Arena (picture one girl and one other girl)

The national arena in Sweden is called Friends Arena. Friends, is an organisation working for anti-bullying of children. They named the arena after the organisation. My commission was to make 25 sculptures for the arena. They are made in bronze and have the size of the children 110-125cm. My intentions was to show the vulnerability that children have and maybe all of us.

Material, bronze.