Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.1995, Page 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 15. desember 1995 • 9
L-R: Dennis Anderson, Pres. & Vice-Chancellor of Brandon
University, MB, Nina Colwill, Þórdís and Gunnar Dungal
Þórdís Siguröardóttir
— Scuiptor —
Continued
stained glass windows, includ-
ing those in the modern cathe-
dral at Skálholt.
Þórdís also showed slides
of the work of Jóhann Eyfells
and Ragnar Kjartansson.
Visitors to Reykjavík will
probably have seen one of
Kjartansson’s sculptures, the
galloping horse facing the
speeding traffic on one of
Reykjavík’s busiest streets.
Icelanders take their sculp-
ture seriously and when the
first open-air exhibition was
held in Reykjavík in 1967,
many people were outraged.
Some people denounced the
work. Some even destroyed
pieces of art. However, the
show worked because people
were forced to see sculpture
in a new way. The art was not
presented on pedestals in a
gallery or museum but out-
doors on the ground. This
exhibition marked the begin-
ning of the SUM group of
artists. From then on their
exhibitions often caused a lot
of controversy. SUM held
performances and happen-
ings and created installa-
tions. Instead of being isolat-
ed in Iceland these artists
were connected to Fluxus, op
art, pop art, political art,
concept art and arte povera.
During her third, slide-
show lecture, Þórdís took us
into the world of sculpture in
Iceland today where sculptors
no longer are restricted to tra-
ditional materials. One of the
many artist’s works she
showed to us was by Rúri.
Rúri took part in the famous
Gallery Sum. She studied art
in Iceland and Holland and
learned metalworking. Her
work is owned by public
authorities in Iceland, Den-
mark, Sweden and Finland.
Anyone landing at Keflavík
since 1991 has seen one of
her works. It is called
Rainbow and is outside the
terminal.
Many of the new genera-
tion of sculptors are women.
This has been a distinct
change from what was at one
time considered male art.
Women like Ásta Ólafsdóttir
who has studied in
Maastricht and who works
on view art, installations,
sculpture and painting.
Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir.
Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir,
Svava Björnsdóttir, Finna
Birna Steinsson. Finna’s
work in environmental art
includes a work called Over
Bridges. If you are driving in
the countryside and see three
old bridges painted blue,
you’re seeing Finna’s work.
She says about this work, “I
wanted to call attention to
them because of their histori-
cal significance. They repre-
sented access in the old days;
they bridged the north and
south. I used the blue colour
because it is the colour of dis-
tance and because it blends
well into the landscape.”
I came away from these
lectures far more knowledge-
able about Iceland’s most
important art. I also came
away impressed by how cos-
mopolitan Icelandic scholars
and artists are. Although we
are all aware of what great
travellers the Vikings were—
and therefore must have
been influenced by other cul-
tures—until I began working
for the Beck Trust, I was not
aware that modern Ice-
landers are also great trav-
ellers. They study and work
around the world. They near-
ly always seem to return
home after these sojourns
and bring with them knowl-
edge of the latest trends in
fashion, culture and thought.
We think often of Iceland as
being small and far away.
Small in size perhaps but not
in its commitment to culture
and as for being far away, it’s
closer to London and
Frankfurt and Copenhagen
than Victoria is to Toronto.
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