Contemporary Icelandic Art

Hrafnkell Sigurðsson

Given the harsh volcanic and glacial landscape of their sparsely populated country, it’s no surprise that the work of many Icelandic artists is greatly influenced by landscape. “Modern Icelandic art is rooted in landscape, but it has little to do with the classical European tradition with its idyllic atmosphere and picturesque order” says Halldór Björn Runólfsson, Director of the National Gallery of Iceland and curator of a new exhibition at Scandinavia House in New York.

Entitled From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art, the new show represents a survey of contemporary Icelandic art and includes sculpture, installation, painting, photography, and videos by 21 of Iceland’s most acclaimed artists: Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir, Olga Bergmann, Hildur Bjarnadóttir, Margrét H. Blöndal, Ólafur Elíasson, Steingrímur Eyfjörð, Gabríela Friðriksdóttir, Hulda Hákon, Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir, Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir, Ragnar Kjartansson, Ólöf Nordal, Jón Óskar, Eggert Pétursson, Magnús Sigurðarson, Hulda Stefánsdóttir and our favorites Katrín Sigurðardóttir, Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, and The Icelandic Love Corporation (Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir, Jóní Jónsdóttir, and Eirún Sigurðardóttir).

Many of the artists in From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art seem to draw vitality and creativity from the contrast between the sublime emptiness of the Icelandic landscape and the bustling energy of cosmopolitan cities around the world in which they now live and work. Look below to read more about the artists represented in the show and to see a small selection of their work:

Of the 21 artists in From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art, Þórdís Aðalsteinsdóttir (b. 1975), Jón Óskar (b. 1954), Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956), and Hulda Stefánsdóttir (b. 1972) are exclusively painters. Aðalsteinsdóttir explores the absurdity of trivial everyday existence using a colorful figurative style of exquisite graphical irony. Óskar also practices figurative painting, playing with visible images beneath layers of semitransparent encaustic. Pétursson draws our attention to the abstract pattern of small heath plants as they appear from above. In Stefánsdóttir’s installations the slightest shift from the invisible to the perceptible is pushed to its extremity with the addition of photos and Xeroxes to an array of low-key paintings.

Painting also appears indirectly in the otherwise sculptural works of Steingrímur Eyfjörð (b. 1954) and Hulda Hákon (b. 1956). Eyfjörð draws on human customs and manners in order to reveal society’s hierarchical structure in an ironic light. In collaboration with another prominent artist of the younger generation, Ásmundur Ásmundsson (b. 1971), Eyfjörð uses a romantic theme as the basis for a psycho-critical pun after a long investigation into cultural and literary sources. Gabríela Friðriksdóttir (b. 1971), Ólöf Nordal (b. 1961), and The Icelandic Love Corporation—Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir (b. 1973), Jóní Jónsdóttir (b. 1972) and Eirún Sigurðardóttir (b. 1971)—also make use of dark folklore in their installations to unveil perilous contemporary practices. Magnús Sigurðarson (b. 1966) and Hrafnkell Sigurðsson (b. 1963) are not far from them in their subjective wintry suggestions. Olga Bergmann (b. 1967) and Katrín Sigurðardóttir (b. 1967) resort to the diminutive model in order to shed light on nature as a mirror and an extension of their cultural concerns.

Textile artist Hildur Bjarnadóttir (b. 1969) undermines the reductive idea of textile art as a moribund maiden activity with her video of a cowboy twirling his rope. Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir (b. 1969) is also rooted in textile art, which she has developed into an exquisite world of drawing and cutting, often using her own older works as palimpsest. Margrét H. Blöndal (b. 1970) observes dilapidated or tattered second-hand materials as mature and imbued with historical relevance. Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir (b. 1969) and Ólafur Elíasson (b. 1967) grasp the phenomenological importance of ahistorical technology and the immediate excitement it produces. Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976), who will represent Iceland at the next Venice Biennale, brings together music, theatre, and the visual arts in vivid performances.

Hrafnkell Sigurðsson

Katrín Sigurðardóttir

Katrín Sigurðardóttir

Guðný Rósa Ingimarsdóttir

The Icelandic Love Corporation

The Icelandic Love Corporation

Eggert Pétursson

From Another Shore: Recent Icelandic Art
May 2 –August 15, 2008
Tuesday–Saturday, 12–6 pm. Free admission.

Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America
58 Park Avenue (between 37th and 38th Streets)
New York, NY 10016