Jörgen Melanton has always been painting and drawing. Already as a little boy, before he learned to read, he was fascinated by the world of the comic-strip drawing. From the drawings, Jörgen Melanton moved on to pop art and the clearly outlined painting during his years at the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm. He was then working on paintings with features of naively narrative realism. For the bigger audience Jörgen Melanton was mainly known for his large paintings "Sakernas kabinett" which he in 1988 placed in the subway station of Mariatorget, Stockholm. All sorts of objects shared the space on the large screens which were perceived as wide shop windows. After several years of travelling in Asia, Central America and Northern Africa Jörgen Melanton came back to painting labels, boxes and wrappings which he had found on the streets in Asia. The labels and boxes Jörgen Melanton has referred to as a kind of "Eastern pop art".
Maybe it is in the duality that Jörgen Melanton's strength lies. He creates paintings that soar and are difficult to place in time and space, and that also form their own world. The landscapes appear as memories, as faded photographs from earlier generations. The playing boards, on the other hand, look both backwards and forwards. They speak of the world as a plan, as a gigantic board. And we are reminded that perhaps the game is a metaphor of the world that we all live and act in, whether we want it or not.
Jörgen Melanton was born in 1949 in Stockholm, where he lives and works. He received his artistic education at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design 1968-71 and at the Royal University College of Fine Arts 1971-76. Jörgen Melanton has had several solo shows, among others, at Konstnärshuset, Stockholm; Galleri PS, Gothenburg; Galleri Kavaletten, Stockholm and at Teatergalleriet, Kalmar. He has also participated in many group exhibitions, Nationalgalleriet, Stockholm; Olle Olsson Huset, Solna; Kulturhuset, Stockholm and Grafiktriennalen, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm. Jörgen Melanton is represented at Moderna Museet and Borås Konstmuseum.
Maybe it is in the duality that Jörgen Melanton's strength lies. He creates paintings that soar and are difficult to place in time and space, and that also form their own world. The landscapes appear as memories, as faded photographs from earlier generations. The playing boards, on the other hand, look both backwards and forwards. They speak of the world as a plan, as a gigantic board. And we are reminded that perhaps the game is a metaphor of the world that we all live and act in, whether we want it or not.
Jörgen Melanton was born in 1949 in Stockholm, where he lives and works. He received his artistic education at the University College of Arts, Crafts and Design 1968-71 and at the Royal University College of Fine Arts 1971-76. Jörgen Melanton has had several solo shows, among others, at Konstnärshuset, Stockholm; Galleri PS, Gothenburg; Galleri Kavaletten, Stockholm and at Teatergalleriet, Kalmar. He has also participated in many group exhibitions, Nationalgalleriet, Stockholm; Olle Olsson Huset, Solna; Kulturhuset, Stockholm and Grafiktriennalen, Liljevalchs konsthall, Stockholm. Jörgen Melanton is represented at Moderna Museet and Borås Konstmuseum.