Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2007, Side 8
14_RVK_GV_10_007_ART
“In the incessant, obtrusive drone of our technological
age, we sometimes begin to yearn for whatever is origi-
nal, simple, and sincere in existence – for anything that
is genuine.” So begins the introduction to Aðalsteinn
Ingólfsson´s book “Naive and Fantastic Art in Iceland,”
published by Iceland Review in 1989. If Aðalsteinn
was feeling alienated from technology in 1989, I can
only imagine how he’s coping now. I’m guessing that
Myspace, mobile phones and the whole technological
grid is leaving him yearning for a simpler life – much like
it has done to Miss Hilton and Richie. But he was right,
of course. We seem to want simple and original things,
a break from the mass-produced uniform culture that
surrounds us. Why mass produced culture even exists is
a paradox I won’t even try to explain – mainly because
I do not know the answer, and also because it would
make me look more foolish than I already do.
Aðalsteinn´s book focuses on Icelandic naive or
‘outside’ painters, profiling 11 artists. Most of them are
fairly unknown to the average Icelander who never steps
into a gallery or a museum. That is, of course, part of
their “outsideness” – they are outside the conventional
art scene. Then again it could be argued that the whole
art scene is outside of almost everything except itself, at
least it does not seem to be a part of the mainstream
discourse in Icelandic society. So naive or outside artists
truly are outside. They are outside a cultural niche, that
is, outside of the common culture.
But how does one recognise this type of art? To define
it is almost as hard as defining beauty – it is in the eye
of the beholder and all that. The simplest explanation is
that naive art is created by untrained artists: it is simple
and it lacks the quality found in the works of formally
trained artists. Trying to define quality is equal to find-
ing a towel for sale in downtown Reykjavík – next to
impossible so let’s leave the definition like this: you’ll
recognize it when you come across it.
The biggest name in the naive Icelandic painting
world is, or more accurately was, Stefán from Möðru-
dalur. Stefán was an eccentric farmer from one of the
most remote farms in Iceland, Möðrudalur, approximately
midway between Egilsstaðir and Akureyri. He was a co-
lourful character, often seen riding around on a bike with
his paintings, stopping here and there and putting up a
show and selling his pieces. He mostly painted the same
motives over and over again, the mountain Herðubreið
(often called the queen of Icelandic mountains) or other
landscapes from his home tracts in Möðrudalur. Horses
were prominent in his paintings – often specific horses
that Stefán owned, like the stallion Burstafells-Blesi
which was the motive for a controversial painting which
got Stefán arrested. The painting, named Vorleikur or
“Spring Play”, shows the stallion mating with a mare.
Stefán put the painting up on Lækjartorg on one of his
shows and the police promptly showed up and arrested
him. Reykjavík in the sixties was a prude town.
Iceland has produced some naive musicians as well
as painters. The king of outsiders music in Iceland is the
country artist Hallbjörn Hjartarson who lives in the small
northern town Skagaströnd. Since he released his first
album in 1981, aptly named Kántrí 1 or “Country 1”,
he has been relentless in trying to introduce country
and western music and culture to Iceland. He runs a
Texas style restaurant called Kántríbær (Country-Town),
complete with swinging doors and wagon wheels. In
the restaurant there is also a miniscule country museum.
Hallbjörn´s country music is simple in form and style.
Many songs sound the same with only the lyrics, which
he writes himself, changed. The lyrics are truly naive,
one song details the comic book character Lucky Luke
and another Hallbjörn’s dog, Hugo.
It is a surreal experience stepping into Kántríbær.
Equally surreal is meeting Hallbjörn, all dressed in cow-
boy clothes with a big brimmed hat in the middle of
nowhere Iceland. He is original and sincere in his quest
to bring the Wild West to rural Iceland. So are his songs
and his albums. Hallbjörn felt that he was so outside
the musical culture that he was forced to open up his
own radio station in 1992, which played only country
music, often his own. For 16 years he endured, losing
money every year. Last year he gave up and moved it
entirely online and, according to its web site, it receives
about 500 hits a day. It is fitting that the technological
grid that, according to Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson, fuels our
want for simple artists like Hallbjörn, is providing the
same artists with a creative outlet. Maybe we need the
mass-produced cultural hegemony to allow us to spot
the simple and original things in contrast. What do I
know? Go ask Paris…
Check out Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson’s book at the local
library. Browse Hallbjörn Hjartarson’s web and listen to
Radio Country-Town online at: www.kantry.is
Outside and Off the Grid
Text by Páll Hilmarsson Painting by Stefán frá Möðrudal (Stórval)
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