I have known Mats Aberg for several years, but it was only recently that I became fully aware how fine an observer he is. He combines an analytical eye with an implacable calm and an appreciation of the flow of life. It would be trite to say that he “captures pieces of reality,” and more accurate to visualize that he sculpts situations seen, experienced, imagined, and loved.
As a classical artist he starts with a sketch, and if the fates decree, the sketch becomes material for browsing and an analysis of the situation he is bringing to life. Sometimes there is torment, sometimes a solution. The genesis of the artist Mats Aberg began with painting, and he says: “I always think in pictorial terms, and the sense of composition provides a background to create the sculptural images.”
Mats is familiar with the matter at hand: its problems and its quirks, and he is master of the technology involved with his work. He loves those who were his teachers, and he absorbed their wisdom. Mats is an artist who works slowly and exhibits no anxiety over the time he takes, for that permits continuous attention.
He enjoys the slow pace of a work in progress, and the very slowness allows him time to ponder that has nothing to do with any intellectual pretentions of "making art". Mats pauses, with no emphasis on anything in particular, because “whatever we do is a symbol though sometimes I am unable to say for what. Whatever you see as I see it is a symbol.” It is as if Mats, through his sculptures, urges us to pause in contemplation of the mystery of life. So simple and so quiet; so slow and so sacred. Works of awareness that are gifts to us all.
Raffaella Citterio
Biography
Said about Mats
How I Work
