Spazio Nobile presents Swedish artist Åsa Jungnelius
With Agnes Tears, Åsa Jungnelius celebrates 20 years of artistic practice
Åsa Jungnelius, born 1975 in Fisksätra, is a Swedish artist with a broad creative pallet – designer, university lecturer, entrepreneur, artistic director, educator and since 2022 honorary doctor at Linnaeus University in Växjö. In her teens, she trained as a glassblower at Kosta Boda and between 1998 – 2004 she took her master’s degree in ceramics and glass at Konstfack. Åsa Jungnelius lives and works today in Månsamåla, Småland. Her work is represented at Moderna Museet, Malmö Konstmuseum, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Nationalmuseum and Röhsska Muséet, Göteborg.
- Photo by Peo Olsson
Seamless Transition is literally a heavy exhibition. There is an earthly anchorage in the materials of steel, glass and marble, made up of some of the oldest sediments and elements on the planet. While we experience the presence of density, there is a spherical interplay of movement and contrast between hard and soft expressions. The artist manages to manifest a new phase in his creation in a supernatural union.
Photo by Peo Olsson
The sculptures are wilder but refined, and with their silent narratives they take up the space of the art gallery, without crowding it. It feels as if Åsa Jungnelius has her ear to the ground and can read both nature and man. The visible weathering in the marble illuminates a time of fragmentation. The glass is supported by the supporting and chrome-plated, just as the skeleton holds the physical body together. There is motherhood, origin and desire here. I almost feel that the artist has come here to save us. Or even better: a declaration of independence from the valkyrie of visual art.
The exhibition is aggressive and tender at the same time. Perhaps because the artist’s hand is blistered by both his own and the materials’ history and origins. We know that it takes enormous amounts of energy to fuse matter. But how do we apply this alchemy to our human shortcomings? Perhaps an artistic fire is enough. Just as the furnaces deep in the mountain, or at the mill, never go out, Åsa Jungnelius’ art sparkles into infinity.
Jan Stene, December 2024
- AGNES TEARS & AGNES FAMN, Aluminium, blown glass, silvered, stainless steel, acrylic plastic, aluminium bronze and steel, 5m high, 12m long, 2m wide, 2024, Gävle Cultural Centre, Sweden. Photo by Peo Olsson
“The new cultural centre in Gävle is named after Agnes von Krusenstierna, and I chose to make her tears, the sculpture is an interpretation of a handmade candleholder in the collection of Gävle Länsmuseum. The sculpture is made of hand blown glass in my studio,” states Jungnelius.
About the Artworks
Åsa Jungnelius has made two sculptures for Agnes Kulturhus. AGNES FAMN is placed at the reception and AGNES TEARS hangs from the ceiling and runs through the whole building. The sculptures are inspired by two craft objects, a pewter candlestick and a wooden candlestick from the Gävleborg County Museum collection. The work is a tribute to Agnes von Krusenstjerna’s literary work, her importance for equality and everyone’s right to artistic freedom and freedom of expression.
- Photo by Peo Olsson
AGNES TÅRAR (AGNES TEARS) is an assemblage that, piece by piece, forms a larger whole. The reflective surface examines the relationship between matter and man, and the sliding scale of positioning that is constantly renegotiated and recreated throughout history. AGNES FAMN is a free-standing sculpture that opens up and embraces different directions in space. The golden façade of the Culture House is reflected in the surface of the sculpture.
At Spazio Nobile
- Prime Time and Desire, silvered hand blown glass and “action cast glass” sculptures, photo by Margaux Nieto at Spazio Nobile Gallery
- The Flower, Photo by Margaux Nieto at Spazio Nobile
- Prime Time II, Photo by Jonas Lindström on PAD London, October 2024
Desire Utensil Container was the first solo exhibition of Swedish artist Åsa Jungnelius at Spazio Nobile, presenting new sculptures in glass, marble and metal, as well as iterations of recurring objects in her artistic practice which have been created for this site-specific installation at Spazio Nobile. Existential questions are addressed through the materiality of glass and marble, each representing a different technical approach and state of mind. “I am not particularly interested in the dichotomy of materials, as it is an approach that sees the world in opposition, which in turn can lead to exploitation, domination or conflict between different parties. I am more interested in the movement, energy and exchange that is possible with an open approach.”
- Photo by Märta Thisner
Åsa Jungnelius, born 1975 in Fisksätra, is a Swedish artist with a broad creative pallet-designer, university lecturer, entrepreneur, artistic director, educator and since 2022 honorary doctor at Linnaeus University in Växjö. In her teens, she trained as a glassblower at Kosta Boda and between 1998 – 2004 she took her master’s degree in ceramics and glass at Konstfack. Åsa Jungnelius lives and works today in Månsamåla, Småland. Her work is included in the collections of Moderna Museet Stockholm, Nationalmuseum Stockholm, European Parliament Art Collection in Brussels, Malmö Konstmuseum, Norrköpings Konstmuseum, Växjö kommun, Glasmuseet Ebeltoft Danmark, National Swedish Art Council, Stockholms läns landsting, Skövde Konstmuseum, Röhsska Museet, Smålands Museum and The Glass Factory in Boda.
- Mother of Pearl, cast and hot sculpted glass, photo by Märta Thisner
With her graduation exhibition I like your hair style! in 2004, she had an immediate breakthrough on the Swedish art scene. A presentation in glass, where female beauty and accessories were cleverly highlighted in the objects, making them powerful symbols of issues of oppression, gender and ideals. The exhibition not only highlighted outdated social structures, but also brought the traditional glass tradition into the spotlight. Åsa Jungnelius became an innovator of an entire genre while unleashing an entirely new visual idiom. Today, twenty years later, craftsmanship is an integral part of visual art.
- Utensil Container I, mouth blown glass, mirroring, stainless steel, photo by Märta Thisner
- When you spit on a stone, it becomes wet, Carrara marble sculpture, photo by Märta Thisner
Her work has been shown in recent years at Spazio Nobile in Brussels (2024), Galerie Leu in Munich (solo 2023), Galerie Glas (solo 2023), Market Art Fair (solo 2022), Kunstnarens hus in Oslo (2021), Artipelag (2020), Stene Project (solo 2020), ArkDes (2018-19), Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen (2019), Vandalorum (solo 2019) and Luleå Biennale (2019). Spazio Nobile revealed her Prime silvered blown glass installation for the first time at PAD London last autumn.
- Prime Time II, mouth blown glass, mirroring, stainless steel, photo by Jonas Lindström
- Crackle Giant Hogweed III, mouth blown glass, ed. 2/5, photo by Märta Thisner
An artistic research project is currently running in collaboration with the Consulate General, Swedish Research Institute in Turkey and Pera Museum, Istanbul.
Spazio Nobile represents her since 2021.
- Wadjet, hot cast and sculpted glass, photo by Märta Thisner
