Malin Gabriella : Fibra

Malin Gabriella Nordin
Magic sculptures

Picture: Malin by Linn Heidi Stokkedal

Si realmente las pinturas en las cavernas tenían el sentido mágico que mucho más tarde escuchamos, los collages y las expresiones pictóricas de Malin son el último estadio en la evolución del arte mágico de las cavernas.
If really the cave paintings were magical, Malin’s collages and pictorial expressions are the last stage in the evolution of caves magical painting.

• Why did you moved from Stockholm to Bergen, was you searching for a smaller city or because of the National Academy? Do you live alone in Bergen?

I moved from my hometown Stockholm to Bergen in 2010, because I felt that I had to go somewhere where I didn't know anyone or anything - to be able to focus and take some time for myself. It was like my own little bubble there, where it was just me, my own thoughts and my own schedule, or at least in the beginning.. Recently I moved back to Stockholm, which is a city I love but it's also of course sad moving from Bergen, I really like it there, the nature that's always present and all the friends I've got.

• What did you wanted to be when you was a child? How you decided to be an artist?
It's never been a choice for me, it's just what I have done. What I've heard from my parents my favorite hobby when I was a kid was to cut up all their magazines and tape them together again, but in a different way.. I always collected "good garbage", which was egg cartons, empty boxes, styrofoam, etc. and when I had enough I built different things. I guess I’ve just continued, but with new materials and ideas.

• Do you have a straight discipline to work? Do you have in mind what do you want to achieve or are you open to the process? My overall process is like my own game of Telephone where I move between different mediums and techniques. Something that started out flat as a collage on paper might become a sculpture and later a painting from another point of view, constantly changing in the search for the right medium and size for each piece. These changes in material, size and technique always involve a translation in process. During the process the qualities change but also how I think about the piece. It becomes a new character with different qualities and abilities, or sometimes, it’s still the same character but with new features.

I try not to censor myself in my work, to take new paths and dare to make mistakes.The work always begins with a shape, a feeling, the impression of a dream, a sentence that stuck to me, a memory, an idea, but I never know how it will end up. During the working process the subject within the original frame changes, a conversation takes place between me and the work. I need to be observant, ready to rethink and have the ability to see the deviations from the anticipated. Like in a game of dominoes the next step always depends on the one before. The process continues infinitely as leftover pieces from one project can become a major part of the next project.

• Are there certain rules dominating the cosmos of each work? How would you describe the relations between the different elements? The color depends on the shape and the shape depends on the color and together they depend on their surroundings. Slowly the shapes moulds into their own characters where they all have their own qualities. The sheer quality of the materials is very important to me. Also, finding the right technique for each piece - the texture, size and material and relationship between them.

Something that works great as a sculpture may not be a good painting because that certain quality gets lost in the process of translating it. That’s why the works constantly change along the way - I have to find a certain quailty for each certain piece, and maybe take a new approach to make it work.

• If you have to choose between ideas or sensations, What do you think leads your work?
Sensations

• Would you please let me know your experience working with Private Language? What did you expected to find and what you learned with the kids?
I had this idea about inviting others into my process for quite some time but I didn’t really know how or when. After a while, letting this thought grow, I realized that inviting young children to interpret my work would be a interesting way for me to move forward. Letting them ‘teach the teacher’ in a way. Why I thought of children is because of the way they see things or at least how I think children see things. The way I saw things when I was young and now how I strive to see things.

I believe that most children have this ability to seize without a fight, to be seduced by things without analyzing them to their core. The world is among them, not put before them. And by letting the children into my process I wasn’t alone in my game of Telephone anymore, it was suddenly a game with several participants. My work resulted in both paintings and sculptures, it became the collective through the personal.

Previous pictures taken by Emilia Bergmark-Jiménez

• How do you see yourself 5 years from now?
Wow, that's a though question.. I try to take one day at a time, but hopefully I will still be making art and exhibiting my work in different places... and the dream would of course be to make a living as an artist. Hopefully living where the sun is shining, with some cats.
• Would you send me some photos of the ultimate works you are working on? Well, right now I'm without a studio

because I just moved back to Stockholm so I don't get as much work as usual done right now, but I'll send you some pictures of what I've been working on the last couple of weeks/months.
Right now I'm preparing for some upcoming shows, one in Vienna 10th of October at Galerie Martin Janda and also a solo show here in Stockholm at Gallery Steinsland Berliner in early December

Thank you so much Malin!
Best, Malin Gabriella

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Malin Gabriella