Body of Work

Contemporary Expression in Ancient Materals

Ever since antiquity, porphyrus has fascinated and challenged artists and designers. The bachelor ka the porphyrus tradition has lived since the 1780s. Now it is carried forward with new expressions of gaged artists, who do not hesitate to challenge the whimsical stone – dumb, hard, and a mirror image of the firmament with its cosmic beauty.

During the summer of 2018, Yemisi Wilson stayed in Älvdalen to work in porphyry. A contemporary Constnär who has found a new expression in the porphyry and is fascinated by the different colors of the stone and brittle hardness. In the workshop, as Sten I Älvdalen arranged, stones were fetched in old quarries. The stone was processed outside adjacent to Älvdalen’s new porphyry works. With today’s modern tools, there is a large freedom for artists to shape the hard stone, unlike the old methods. The Workshop provided the opportunity to develop a modern idiom.

Excerpt from “Contemporary Expressions in Ancient Materials”.

– Bengt Welin