Kjell Engman

Kjell Engman was born in Stockholm, educated at Konstfack and at the famous, style-forming glass school Pilchuck outside Seattle in the state of Washington in the northwestern United States. Since 1978, he has worked as a glass artist and designer at Kosta Boda. Engman now lives on Öland and commutes to his studio in Kosta. For many years, he has staged popular installations, or "glass shows" with his own description, at Ekerum's art gallery, Öland.

The glass art that Kjell Engman creates is characterized by strong colors, generous, playful shapes and the ever-present imagination and humor. In addition to music and instruments, his glass art is populated by animals, nature and symbols from everyday life as well as the super and subconscious. Life-affirming, teeming joy can be said to run like a motley thread through his versatile expression as a glass artist.

“I see the glass as my pen for telling stories. I don't want to give my audience depression, but offer joy and imagination. My art should be something to smile at, something positive. Take, for example, my bathing suits, which are inspired by an unforgettable visit to a church in Harlem, New York. The ladies singing gospel there were the biggest I've ever seen, but they moved with such incredible ease. It's not about how you look, it's about the inner security and joy that makes you soar. That is the feeling I want to convey with my art.”

The very diversity of Kjell Engman's production has, as he sometimes says, meant that some have experienced his artistic expression as scattered. He himself praises the flamboyance and whimsy.

“I think it's the spread itself that has sold, which people like. I have always let my imagination rule and it can be a bit too much, things that the cultural elite cannot handle. I have my stick horses and I don't care too much. I know I'm not on the nice carpet. What gives me energy is when I put on a show like in Stenungssund a couple of years ago, with my bathing ladies on a beach, and tens of thousands of visitors come in a few weeks. I am inspired by when people in the audience talk about their own fantasies that have been awakened by my worlds. I don't even like to put titles on my works. I don't want to control the viewer, but let everyone create their own fantasy worlds.”