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Tom Engblom
Oonko mie tiellä? / Am I blocking the way?

Artist Tom Engblom tells:“Of course, you can see reindeer in the forest too, if you get
around to going there. Well, most often these creatures meet you on the road, where they
are usually blocking your way. This gave rise to the idea of realising a proposition called
Am I blocking the way? But now, off to carving a reindeer.”

“I started by making a reindeer naturally, with the idea of working the antlers deep into
the road, as if rooted there, but the result did not quite work. Then, I began a traditional
art-historical simplification process, finding out what is essential about a reindeer. After
several miniature model sculptures, I ended up with the so-called closet-reindeer model,
which got its inspiration from its relatives that you often meet in the city, the barrier
blocks (called ’concrete pigs’ in Finnish). The creation of the closet-reindeer was backed
up with the Finnish saying: The place of the closet is determined by... And if a man is like
a closet, he is a big man.”

“The end result was a discussion between a feminine and a masculine concrete reindeer,
where the parties challenge each other, just like in any normal family. On the road of
course.”

Sculptor Tom Engblom was born in Helsinki in 1963. After studying one year in the Free Art
School, he transferred to the Art School MAA, where he studied from 1986 to 1990. Engblom’s
artworks can be found in many collections. He has held his own exhibitions and participated in
many collective exhibitions. In addition, he has won several awards with his artworks. Engblom
uses wood, steel, concrete, rock, glass and wallpaper as well as objects that he has found, and
combines them boldly. The distinctive attribute to Engblom’s artworks is the detailed and fine
wood craftsmanship. He lives and works in Rovaniemi.