All images courtesy of Max Ocborne. Photo credits: Anika Schwarzlose, Marianne Heed Miskar, Terje Östling, Lena Bergendahl.
“The work means nothing without the context in which it is working.”
– Max Ockborn
Born 1982, lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. He earned his MFA from Malmö Art Academy in 2012 and has shown his work at various group and solo shows since.
We emailed Max a bunch of questions and after a warm and lengthy correspondance it turned out like this.
There are many different reasons to enter into the art world,
what is yours?
O: “Guess you could say I got here by process of elimination: I really can’t think of anything more interesting to do.”
The weapons you display in your piece
‘In hopes of support from the rooms we Use’
seem to have been used quite a bit
– what’s the story behind that?
O: “The ‘laboring hand’ means a lot to me, it’s kind of an escape from the other work, the thinking, the writing; the hand has it’s own way of working which is at least as important.”
O: “The memory of a material experience from the hand coupled with the sense of sight can sometimes provide a sensation of physical contact to a memory, the hand will remember differently than the brain.
Like with the weapons, I often try to do work that borders both installation and sculpture.”
I hint a sort of cryptic idealism running through your body of work,
what are the long-term aspirations for your work?
O: “Which ideals one reveals through his or her artwork are usually easier for others to see than the artist themselves.
My work will reveal what is important to me at the time, what I want to address.”
O: “The work means nothing without the context in which it is working
– and from that perspective i guess one could say that the context is my ideal.”
For more info check out Max Ockborn’s website here