STUDIO:
Rorstrandsgatan 33
S-113 40 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Phone/fax: +46 8 34 69 03
RESIDENCE:
Bastugatan 5
S-118 20 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel: +46 8 640 46 30
Cellphone: +46 70 34 35 637
US-cellphone:
(001) 646 469 8612
Chinese-cellphone:
(+86)13552387434
EMAIL:
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BORN: 1951 in Molnlycke outside Gothenburg.
Lives and works in Stockholm since 1981.
STUDIES: Valand Art College 1971-76
Royal Academy of fine Arts 1975
Project Student at The Royal Academy of fine Arts 2008-09
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ARTIST STATEMENT
I AM A narrative artist. Often my subjects are touching issues like justice and injustice – typical for that is a series of painted wooden reliefs where I tell the story of a man who is fined for a parking offence even though he does not own a car. Trapped in a mixture of red tape and judicial harassment, the man has to fight alone to prove his good faith - yet he ends up a victim, convicted and sentenced...
I love the mix of reality and absurdity and to put it into a beautiful package like that of the old bells chime or a merry-go-round. But it can just as well be the face of a woman - from what seems to be just any piece of wood raises a unique person and in the end we manage to make eye contact – like a flirtation! And my knees go all weak.
I want to bring out this magic again and again! All day long in my studio I try to find a way of interpreting what bothers my mind. My aim is not to give an answer but to open up another way of thinking.
BIOGRAPHYTORSTEN JURELL WORKS in the field of sculpture, painting and graphic art. He has been exhibiting continuously since 1976 in Sweden and abroad. His works are featured in private and public collections across Europe, USA and China.
A number of books have been published with his works. He writes articles about art and art related to political issues in papers and art magazines.
Jurell commenced his career as an artist by carving woodcuts and organising small travelling exhibitions in libraries, factories, offices and art galleries. That brought him freedom and economic independence and, ultimately, the opportunity to tackle larger and more demanding projects.
In 1992 Torsten Jurell turned his attention to the Ossietzky affair, in which Germany time and time again has trampled rough-shod over justice to protect the interests of the state.
The work was later purchased by the City of Hamburg whose mayor presented it to the Carl von Ossietzky City and University Library, where it hangs today, a symbol of the greater struggle against all kinds of injustice.
In Sweden Jurell’s triptych about The Dialysis Case aroused even greater interest and tells the story of a nurse who was made to take all the blame for an accident which occurred during dialysis in a hospital.
Bought by the Swedish Nurses’ Union, the bas-relief was exhibited to the public, commented on and shown on television.
As a comment to the situation at the time after 9/11 he started to work on The Trick! based on an idea of the Bulgakov’s remarkable book Master and Margarita. 2003 at 9/11 it was exhibited in a big solo show in the harbour of Gothenburg and in 2006 in a huge solo show at MÁRS Gallery of Contemporary Art in Moscow.
From small drawings of tiny clay figures in a museum in Zakatekas, Mexico - the work with Three Lost Conquistadors meet Maya became a sculpture group against colonialism and it all continued and developed into another group named The Girls of Calais. They were all exhibited in the solo show inFORMATION in Stockholm 2008. That summer Torsten Jurell spent a long time in a studio in BIAC, Beijing where he participated in a group show, worked in an art project with the Namibian artist Imke Rust and exhibited his paintings and sculptures in a solo show.
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THE ARTIST