Homo Capax @ Galerie NeC – Paris

A double Swedish ceramic session starts next week with the arrival of Mårten Medbo’s 2 exhibitions: one one side a retrospective (1999-2012) of his crazy, scary and sometimes controversial figures @ the Parisian Swedish Institute and at the same time a little expo with some of his latest works @ Gallery NeC.

His works continue to break the boundaries between art, design and crafts, approaching glass and ceramics in a non-conventional way creating his well-known games of layers with surprising outcomes.

Medbo scans the spectrum of nature… from the original organic cell, to the agglomerate, it looks like his sculptures froze at some point when they were still in the middle of their evolving process. Little teddies, monkeys and a long list of deformed (or “undefined”) creatures conform Medbo’s playgrounds some of which may not be as infantile as they may seem.

For the past 3 years Medbo has been preparing a thesis on crafts as a means of contemporary expression, this approach gives title to the expo: “Homo Capax”, an expression from French philosopher Paul Ricœur, meaning a man is responsible for his own actions.

This installation showcases his memories of one of his first summer jobs at the porcelain factory of Gustavsberg. Medbo will install himself inside a crystal box by the museum cafeteria with a table turner to entertain visitors.

The opening takes place next Thursday with his first performance @ l’Institut suédois, but you’ll have the opportunity to see him on repeated occasions until early March. More info this way.