When Elin Melberg takes on an assignment she does not make it easy on herself. Her newly commissioned work at Tokerud School in Oslo (Norway) is 135 square meters and contains thousand´s of small mirror mosaics and hand cut glossy pictures of flowers. All glued one by one, by the artist herself.
According to Melberg the point of gluing them one by one is to keep control. The detailed and lengthy creative process is something Melberg constantly needs to immerse herself in, thus she gets to explore her thematic analysis through painstaking and meditatively glue, sew or distort one small bit of material at a time.
The mosaic is hanged 3 meters above ground in the schools indoor open area. In it, the viewers will see reflections of the room, giving them a fragmented picture of both themselves and their surroundings. Bits and pieces of reality, much like how we see the world around us.
The work is realized through founding dictated by a Norwegian parliamentary degree that sais that up till 1,5 of the costs of public buildings should be used on artistic decoration. The purpose of these commissions is to stimulate the public environment and enrich the encounter between art and architecture. According to Melberg this is an arrangement Norway should take pride in, as it both secures quality art in public areas and provides artists with a more a stable income.
Melberg has always enjoyed working with contrasts, and emphasizes both big, maximalist installations and more downplayed works. She enjoys this way of working and has a growing need for this variation. This is reflected in the way she simultaneously works with several techniques and mediums, but also in the way certain themes reoccurs in her works.
At ArtLego we proudly present both some of her newest pastels and former installations.
Photo by courtesy of Tommy Ellingsen
