In 2019, Terra Delft Gallery organized the work period in Majiayao together with Jackson Li, for which 14 international ceramists were invited. In Majiayao, in northwest China, they worked in the same area where Neolithic pots were found a century ago. These painted pots from 5000 years ago were named after their location: the Majiayao culture. Paul Robin Sjöström (b.1989) from Stockholm was one of the participants.
Through this intensive period, we got to know Paul Robin as an artist who uses clay to depict his emotions in clear and recognizable subjects. During his studies at the art academies in Stockholm and Gothenburg, he came to realize that he is much more interested in telling stories in clay than telling the story in clay. For him, clay is a very disarming material, a domestic material that everyone knows and is close to the people. He uses this banal material to depict larger themes, such as emotions, love, depression, life, with motifs from ordinary everyday things, also somewhat banal.
In the exhibition A Sunny Day at Galerie Terra Delft, the theme is global warming, climate change. In clear shapes and use of color he shows that there is a combination between a beautiful summer day and a bad feeling. “Not all bad things happen at night or on rainy days, sometimes the worst things happen on a nice day. The wonderful summer heat suddenly becomes too much for you, the lack of rain becomes unbearable… You change from participant to observer and you see that the world is going down but the sun continues to shine”, says Sjöström.
The work of Paul-Robin Sjöström from Sweden is characterized by a lively playfulness, strong monochrome colors and a matte finish in clear shapes with symbolism.
On Saturday afternoon, September 9, the artist was present at Galerie Terra Delft to talk about his work.
