The White Falcon - 09.07.1971, Blaðsíða 9

Iceland in Art
Teeth in the job
*
Even those of us who are ready to add virtually
1 new fads to the ranks of artwork, cannot admit
,t a person wielding a dentist's drill and work-
ing on a tooth is an artist, particularly those of
us who have made recent visits to the dentist's
office.
Yet there is such a person who must unquestion-
ably be called an artist. His name is Erlendur Vi-
kingur Alfredsson. He carves whales' teeth. His
tools include a dentist's drill even though he is
not a dentist by profession. He is a lithographer.
Originally from Denmark, Erlendur has been per-
manently residing in Iceland for over ten years.
Four years ago he was given the idea of the pos-
sibility of carving whale teeth and has since
turned it into a lively art.
As a former Dane working and living in Iceland
with a middle name of Vikingur, what better favor-
ite subject for his sculpture could he have than
statuettes of Vikings. His treatment of these his-
torical and mythological characters is slightly
different than might be expected however. There
are no sword brandishing, fierce faced and sure
footed models. Instead, they are much more human
and comical. He shows them grasp-
ing mugs, tongues sticking out
and with their toes pointed in-
ward. His sense of humor comes
through in a personal, mocking
portrayal of the Viking.
Other subjects include more
comnon Icelandic sights whose ex-
cellence of detail would do honor
to a master Indian ivory carver.
To be sure, the painstaking care
and thoroughness is evident.
The artist has never really
studied art. Most of his tech-
nique has been learned from a
silversmith. Erlendur takes his
time with his work. Most of his
smaller carvings take at least
a few days and some of the more
complex examples take a week to
complete.
He is by no means the only
whale tooth carver on the island,
but his work does serve as an ex-
ample of the overall work in this
field.
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WH1TK FAI.CON