“My work has three components. It is based in part on problem-solving, to increase the format as a glass artist. The two big glass sculptures are based on working in my youth with Plato’s figures, a number of equilateral geometric shapes. I wanted to hand-blow these shapes like old-fashioned window glass in different colors, which turned out to present technical challenges.

The red sculpture is a so-called icosahedron with 20 triangles, Plato’s basic shape representing love. The black one is a dodecahedron, the symbol of death, built with 15 black pentagons. After trying out different techniques, in the end we blew a large ball that became a bowl which we heated and spun until it almost collapsed and became a large round disc. Then the shapes were cut out according to meticulous calculations. I actually studied mathematics, in fact.

The glass sculptures interplay with the two-and-a-half-meter tall fellow in wood that I sculpted with a motor saw. I knew from the beginning that he would be red. The title comes from a moment during a coffee break in Kosta, when the local vegetable merchant drove by, and I heard he was called ‘Ove Tomato’ (Ove Tomat). Suddenly a light bulb went off in my head. It’s a political statement as well, of course, like all of my work in these times of culture war, when art is being attacked from all sides.”

“In my painting, I’ve worked with still lifes for a long time – objects from another world that I’ve decorated myself, like pots, varnished works, textile patterns. I want to create objects like this myself out of glass. They have no function; we don’t know why they are there. They come from the imagination and the subconscious.

Gold is present throughout. This is an alchemical reference. I’ve always been interested in the alchemical, in the esoteric – something created out of something else. Maybe it’s a kind of fantasy about what might be hiding within a castle. This was an aspect that was present in the background.

The sculptures on the podium are the kinds of objects you might otherwise find indoors, that landed mistakenly in the park, illogically, without purpose. Maybe they can find a meaning?

To unite the pink with the gold, the sculptures are all blown using the overlay technique, with hand-cut tracks that we have gilded with 24 karat gold. These are complicated pieces that require a lot of time in the studio, with collaboration among the blowers, cutters, and painters. Pieces like this are impossible to make yourself. They require master blowers, master cutters and master painters, and that was part of my concept.”

“I am presenting a group of freestanding sculptures which, together, form a kind of ‘gallery of people’ in which Venus’ shadow emerges, a drama with an uncertain outcome. I am interested in monumental expressions and the socially and structurally constructed spaces in which they occur. Through the objects and material as representations that convey the value of identity and a space to project physicality, I am exploring the relationship between matter and humanity and the sliding scale of positioning that is continuously renegotiated and re-created throughout history.

The reflective objects contribute with their presence and absence simultaneously. The sculptures reflect the space around me, with its surrounding park setting, the visitors, garden and the royal family.

The mirror as a symbol and an actual function is repeated through art history. Stories about how Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection are juxtaposed against how every phase of life is connected – blossoming, decay, death, resurrection.

The group is approximately human sized. The various sculptures are based on different techniques, and competitively blowing the biggest ball, sausage and other shapes. It’s about reaching the point when the glass becomes uncontrollable. Then we build the glass bodies together with metal. The result is very metallic, silvery, chrome plated. A sense of ambivalence arises that I find interesting in the cold material that is simultaneously very seductive and three-dimensional.”

“The sculpture is a further expansion on the installation I showed in the park two years ago. It is a tall, laser-cut iron figure with a small head that holds a two-meter-long blue solid glass staff in front of itself with arms outstretched – Klein blue, but a little varied, with Prussian blue as well. I think it presents a powerful, static impression.

The staff is a symbol that I’ve always returned to, as a symbol of strength. Here it is pale, pale blue, like a drill bit in space. 

It’s hard to work in a large scale with glass. We are competing with a lush, beautiful park with trees from all over the world. So you have to make a bit of a statement. I work often with a combination of iron and glass. A contrast forms: something fragile and glittering beside something compact, impenetrable. Iron represents a strong person. Glass, with its exclusivity, conveys an element of magic and captures light unlike any other material can.

You can see the figure as a visitor from an unknown place in the universe, a part of the universe. It should feel like a person is standing there. I hope people can relate to it as a friend, someone you are meeting. Is it a friendly figure? Yes, it radiates power, strong but not threatening, protective, like a guardian.”