Ole Martin Skaug is a Norwegian artist who creates fantastic, “beautifully ugly” ceramic animals and people. One can find beauty in the grotesque and the bizarre, and humour is the key here.
Ole Martin Skaug was born in 1965. He was originally going to be educated as a photographer at California State University in Los Angles, United States. During his studies he underwent thorough training in a number of other artistic branches where he started working with stoneware clay and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.
He’s been a full-time sculptor since 1994 and lives and works in Hølen, a small town by the river Såna south of Akershus, Norway.
His workshop is filled with sculptures that many would consider absurd. From here he has catered to an ever-growing crowd that loves his innovative and grotesque sculptures which often tease our vanity. They are made in great detail with teeth, fine-tuned wrinkles and other body accessories.
When creating his sculptures, he looks for the beauty in the ugly. Or the vulnerability of the grotesque. His sculptures reflect our vanity. One can imagine there must be many special thoughts in his head that allow him to think up such grotesque characters. According to Ole Martin, it is the advantage of having hereditary madness in his family (Source: Østlandets Blad).
He works mainly with stoneware clay. Most of the production is in smaller formats, but he also makes larger sculptures. Skaug’s work revolves around different expressions. Many of the works are caricatured, grotesque and humorous, others delicate, introverted and quiet, and Skaug alternates between these forms.
The idea work is a mixture of a disciplined, controlled process and spontaneous inspiration. Skaug tries to be open to what happens during the work with the sculptures, and often experiences that the end result is something different than planned. It could be a line in the camp, a personality forcing itself through or a random texture asking to be used (Source: Norway Designs).
He has had a number of exhibitions in Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and the USA.
About the Author
For more articles visit Dayne’s Discoveries Blog, browse our online shop, or contact us to share information, stories, or photographs relating to Ole Martin Skaug sculptures.
Dayne's Discoveries 
Leave a comment