Inspiration
2021/12/9
From recycled to expressive
Artist couple Therese Ameln Merner and Oscar Merner create expressive sculptures from recycled materials. With dynamic and colourful compositions, they give the materials personality and new life - like totems for a new era where we beautify the world by using what we already have.
How come you work with recycled materials?
– Above all, we are fascinated by finding these little things that appeal to us. It could be that they have a cool colour or a funny shape. In the larger sculptures we often use brushes that are used to sweep streets, for example. We see the beauty in the materials and give them new life.
Where do you find the different components?
– In everything from containers, along the roadside or on the beach when we are travelling. We have contact with the municipality out on Ingarö where we live and get access to some of their recycling where we find a lot of gems. Simply put, here and there!
"The composition itself is a long process of finding the right shapes and colours that fit together – it's like a puzzle."
How does your work progress look like?
– It is an ongoing process where we collect material continuously, then we are periodic in our creation. We collect things that we see potential in, so when we start we often have a whole sea of different things to work with. Some materials we process, others are left as they are. You polish them up a bit or add colour. The composition itself is a long process of finding the right shapes and colours that fit together - it's like a puzzle.
Therese and Oscar complement each other with their differences where she works abstractly and he works figuratively. They started working with sculpture out of a curiosity to explore new materials, shapes and expressions according to the couple: "When we tried to mix our styles, it was quite difficult at first, but when we managed to merge the different worlds, there was a strength in the experimental and playful process".
Therese Ameln Merner and Oscar Merner's sculptures "Treasures" are on display at Nordiska Galleriet Stockholm throughout December.
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