Categories
Uncategorized

Upcoming event! 27th September: ‘Popcorn’ artwork at Science in the City, Valletta

‘Popcorn’ Public Artwork Project

Rune Bo Jakobsen has studied, worked and tutored workshops in Denmark, Arizona, Italy, Finland, Greece, Mexico and Malta.   Working as an architect by day and artist by night, he has this year been awarded Malta Arts Funds for his traveling Public Art Project, ‘Popcorn’.

The concept behind ‘Popcorn’ is that of expansion and fertility. The popcorn analogy where a tiny seed bursts into a unique sculptural volume can be seen as an expression of life and the growth of the embryo. On one hand, the concept deals with the growth of the individual, yet also the growth of the industrial and physical environment.

The idea is to create an expanding volume using an experimental concrete casting technique where the concrete takes the shape of a textile form. The shape and texture of the sculpture is dictated by the forces and pressures between the flexible skin and the liquid concrete.

Currently casts are growing to an industrial scale where casting experiments are gradually increasing in size arriving at 1m in diameter and reaching two tonnes. The forces of the liquid concrete become much stronger, subjecting the materials and sculptural method to tougher tests. Expressive tension lines and folds are fossilized in the concrete as if the expansion were frozen in time.

Whilst using industrial materials, the convex shapes are reminiscent of the Maltese Neolithic goddess of fertility.  Some casts also contain concave voids, where the sculpture also becomes an introvert space – an opened seed or a womb.

The intention is to bring art out of the museum and directly into the street where the public can touch and perhaps embrace the artwork. It is a tactile sensory experience:  a ‘hug-able’ popcorn.

The ‘Popcorn’ sculpture is intended for exhibition traveling to a number of outdoor public locations throughout Malta: starting in September in the streets of Valletta for the Science in the City; then in October to the gardens of Upper Barrakka for Notte Bianca and in November by the Grand harbour at the Valletta Waterfront.
science in the city popcorn poster4

Categories
Uncategorized

‘Popcorn’ increasing in size

I am currently experimenting with concrete sculptures: using  flexible formwork creating ‘expanding’ volumes for a traveling Public Art Project, ‘Popcorn’.

Now casts are growing to an industrial scale at Blokrete concrete plant. Casting experiments will gradually increase in size arriving at 1m in diameter and reaching over two tonnes. The forces of the liquid concrete become much stronger, subjecting the materials and sculptural method to tougher tests.

August 2013 Popcorn, RBJ

Categories
Uncategorized

Popcorn Casts, refining the technique

One of the latest casts I am doing in my Kalkara studio. Gradually concrete casts are growing in size and I’m getting a feeling of the forces involved. I have tested various aggregate mixes, formwork and strapping methods.

July 2013 Popcrete

Categories
Uncategorized

Malta Arts Fund Awarded

Malta Arts Fund Awarded – more soon!

Categories
Uncategorized

Thought of the day

A r t  i s

to see the beauty in our world and react to it

to be inspired by it and create from it

to explore and experiment

to touch and craft

to imagine and construct

to see goodness and portray it

to feel emotion and respond to it

 

Rune Bo Jakobsen, 29. March 2013

 

 

Sculpture & Paintings

In Sculpture currently dealing with

 

Ideas of expansion, growth & fertility

Exploration of structure & volume

Experiments with materials & casting techniques

Texture, light, balance & colour

Public artworks & their relation to place and people

Original Artworks in Concrete, steel, stone, timber, pvc and card

 

In Paintings currently dealing with

 

Reflected light, texture, contour & colour

Composition & scenography

Depth, layers, motion & history

Portrait & state of mind

Malta towns and fortifications, Dockyards & Nature

Geology & Canyon spaces

Original Artworks Oil, enamel & acrylic paintings on timber & canvas