Text by Reidun Solheim, Communications Adviser.
A bronze sculpture of a male figure with large eyes and a body perforated by numerous holes stands on a transport crate marked with the warning Fragile Contents. On the floor in front of it lies another crate, half open, which is full of magazine cuttings, drawings and texts.
Marked with dirt, footprints and museum labels, the crates look as if they have been circulating in the art world for quite some time. A Gucci garment and a pair of skin-coloured knitted gloves, like relics from the artist’s life, lie casually discarded on the installation.
Melgaard’s works revolve around taboo themes such as subcultures that glorify violence, AIDS and transgressive behaviours. Many of his sculptures have holes. These could be allusions to the sores that afflict AIDS sufferers, but more broadly they refer to two recurrent themes in Melgaard’s work: confession and addiction.
