Lars Englund »Pars pro toto«

Galerie Nordenhake commemorates the recent passing of Swedish artist Lars Englund with a presentation of Pars pro toto — a seminal work in his acclaimed exploration of form and space. The title, translated from Latin as "a part taken for the whole," is a rhetorical and artistic device in which a single element stands in for an entire concept or structure.

Englund embarked on his own road in the 1960s, inspired by the materials of modern industry – plastic, rubber, concrete and, later on, carbon fibre. Using these raw materials he has created sensuously expanding structures where the materials take on a life of their own.

These playful explorations of the basic elements of sculpture oscillate stupendously between the micro and macro perspectives, with their endlessly growing formations. Englund is considered to be one of the most formally adept pioneers of Swedish 20th century art.

Not many of us are aware that until recently we have had a few of his smallest creations in our wallets: the terse, stylised 50 öre and one krona coins launched in 1976.

Exhibition text, Lars Englund, 4.6 2005 – 4.9 2005, moderna museet