TRULS MELIN

Mental Togetherness

Truls Melin created one of his evocative sculptures on a grand scale to stand in front of the Magasin 3 building – his first outdoor sculpture in Stockholm. “Mental Togetherness” (2009) is an intricate system of pipes with two figures incorporated into it. In this closed circuit they seem to have abandoned their physical form in order to fuse with the fixed, static form of the pipes. They represent an alienation of sorts but keep each other company in an imagined and desired companionship.

Measuring over 5 meters in height, this large-scale piece is painted a shade of green considered calming by psychologists and which the viewer may recognize from previous works by Melin. The motifs in Truls Melin’s work are based on the child-like imagination that he has managed to retain, along with an interest in model building. His sculptures tend to be monochromatic with very few details and are evocative of memories, dreams or the subconscious.

Born in Malmö in 1958, Truls Melin is one of Sweden’s and indeed Scandinavia’s most esteemed artists. Amongst others he has exhibited at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Malmö Konstmuseum and at the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Truls Melin has been living and working in Copenhagen since the mid 1980’s.

Curator: Tessa Praun