Tore Svensson: Järnskålar

Artist list

Tore Svensson

The bowls that Tore Svensson is making has been described both as "ethereal" and "hyper esthetical". The simple, almost archaic shape of the bowl made of iron, becomes a symbol of craft. Something that is made in a relatively cheap material becomes ennobled through the work of the thought and the hand. What Tore Svenssons beautiful and poetic bowls are radiating is not only the shape and the function, it is also work and time.

Tore Svensson has been forging bowls since the beginning of 1980. Non-narrative, simple shapes. Out of an iron plate he slowly and methodically drives a bowl from the hard material. A remarkable transformation from the rigid plate to a precious object, trough hard work and time.

So far Tore Svensson has made 207 bowls, engraved, gilded, in different sizes, with small variations in shape and in thickness of the material. The bowls that are going to be shown at Nutida Svenskt Silver has a rougher, heavier expression than earlier pieces, and maybe it makes the process of the work even more obvious. At the same time they keep their contemplative expression and the exhibition will be like a peaceful room.

The time and the intellectual growing in the making is what characterizes the work of Tore Svennsson, he wants us to stop and think about how we value our time and what we use it for. Do we save it for the future, do we create something valuable, or are we letting it go into nothing?