Marie Louise Kold is an internationally renowned metal artist. She has made a name for herself with her ability to turn bare metals into highly emotionally charged works of art. She etches, patinates and shapes copper, brass and bronze into unique works of art, that not only change depending on angle and light, but also slowly transform from touch and time. All the colors in Marie Louise Kold’s works are the result of complex patination processes using different chemicals. The only exception to this are the occasions when she paints female figures, using oil paint, directly on the metal.Her art, both wall-hung and standalone, is strongly three-dimensional, not least because there are many different surface structures. Her work is also commissioned by architects to become a permanent part of walls and other built structures, integrating it within buildings in ways that range from the subtle to the eye-catching. Words and text, used both directly and indirectly, are prevalent in many of her works. In recent years, Marie Louise Kold has made a number of metal books and scrolls. Many of them were shown at her well-received EX LIBRIS exhibition at the Bibliotheca in Valletta in 2018.Educated in archaeology, metallurgy, art and bronze casting, Marie Louise Kold has been creating metal art since the mid-1990’s. She has exhibited extensively and her art is in private collections all over the world, including in that of the Swedish Royal Court. Among her recent public works, most notable is the copper portrait of assassinated investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. It hangs by the Press Conference Room, named after the journalist, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.Marie Louise Kold is a sought-after public speaker. Her TALKS page has more information about her speaking assignments, as well as links to her recorded talks.Marie Louise Kold was born in 1974 in Århus, Denmark. She shares life and inspiration with her husband Ġorġ, and works in Malmö in southern Sweden and in Malta.
I became mesmerized by a piece of copper during my art studies in the 90’s. The etched copper was lying among some tools on a dusty shelf when it caught my attention, made my heart skip a beat and changed my life completely. A few months earlier I had used that same metal sheet to make copper prints. The way the copper had changed over time and at the touch of my fingers captivated me and compelled me to explore all its possibilities. This process quickly came to include brass and bronze and a wide variety of chemicals and patination techniques. And I have never stopped.I have worked with my metals since that day in 1997, doing it full time since 2001. I find that I am in my element with copper, bronze and brass. Not that they always cooperate. They challenge me to rethink, they surprise me and they urge me to push both their limits and my own. They frustrate me – and they make me fall in love with them repeatedly.Time is a key element in the creation processes of my works and often their inspiration. Many processes are complex and lengthy and there are no shortcuts. My childhood was spent surrounded by large trees… and I was climbing them every chance I got. Roots, structures, patterns and textures keep finding their ways into my works. The fact that the metals are in constant, but very slow, change contributes to the organic, dynamic feeling in many of the works.A life full of books and words has also influenced my art greatly: the meaning they convey, the purely graphic qualities of text and the sculptural aspect of books themselves. Even when the words have been etched so deeply that they can hardly be read, they are always a deliberate choice. The words I use are often fragments from Karen Blixen’s books (in the original Danish), though I also work with other texts and other languages. Words matter greatly to me. Words that inspire, that change everything, that last for centuries, that touch.In the end, that’s what I hope my art will do. Touch you.