The exhibition’s title is shared with a work that embodies her world of ideas very well. The work is a bronze sculpture with a broken form that represents a female body standing on hands. The body is reminiscent of a landscape, or a fragmented map image and is made up as much of the cavities that are formed as the solid cast material, the bronze. It is in the cracks that the essential emerges and Kjellmark shares the insight that to crack is to expand at the same time. It is in the gap that the expansion takes place and at the same time something else can seep in, the movement goes in several directions and marks the power of the transformation. A visual metaphor for breaking apart inside, putting yourself back together again, with the understanding that in the shift that has taken place it will never be exactly the same again. The cracks become a kind of portals that give the opportunity to take part in several dimensions or layers at the same time; the outer world, the physical body and the opportunity to glimpse into an inner space, intimate and personal. Kjellmark’s work often has a subjective connection on some level, it may be that she uses her own physical body in the creation, but also her inner psychic world and spiritual experiences can be exposed in the works. Another figure that is given a central place in her creation is the horse. Since childhood, Kjellmark himself has experienced a strong affinity with this powerful being. The horse’s physique is associated with muscle mass, strength and energy and represents the movement that is so evident in her work in a powerful way.
The works are experienced as extremely poetic and existential despite the sometimes stripped-down, clinical-sounding expressions. The contrasting aesthetics create an interesting dynamic and make itself felt in the union between the artificial and the organic, the powerful and the fragile, in the stillness and the inherent activity. Kjellmark’s unique fragmented expression explores and embodies questions about an unstoppable movement forward, about the constant transformation and change of everything – linked on an external as well as an internal level.
Tove Kjellmark (b.1977) was born and based in Stockholm. She is educated at the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm, Sweden and École des Beaux Arts, Paris, France. In addition to the work in the studio, she lectures and conducts collaborations with humans and non-humans in various forms.
Kjellmark has previously exhibited in Sweden at, among others, Färgfabriken, Galleri Erik Nordenhake, Bonniers Konsthall, Galleri Stene Projects; all in Stockholm. Galleri Thomassen, Gothenburg, Avesta Art, Avesta, Konsthallen Bohusläns Museum, Uddevalla. Internationally, she has exhibited in contexts such as Moore Contemporary, Sydney, Australia, Manchester Art Gallery, England, Royal British Society of Sculptors in London, England, LEAP, Lab for Electronic Arts and Performance, Berlin, Germany, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria , David Zwirner Gallery, New York, USA.
Kjellmark has performed public sculptures for, among others, Lillholmsskolan, Stockholm, Jernhusen & Absolut Art, Stockholm and Linköping City. She is represented in collections such as Region Uppsala, Sweden, Jönköping Municipality, Sweden, Manchester Art Gallery, England and in several private collections worldwide. She has been awarded scholarships such as the Artists’ Board’s two-year work scholarship as well as their scholarship for international exchanges; she has several times been awarded funds from the Helge Ax:sson Johnson Foundation.
