Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.05.2014, Blaðsíða 22

22
Ernesto Neto
Born: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1964)
Lives and works in Rio de Janeiro
Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto is re-
nowned for his “biomorphic sculptural
environments” or large walk-through
installations that adopt and manipulate
organic patterns and shapes for viewers
to interact with. He was honoured with
France’s “Order of Arts and Letters” for
his “Léviathan Thot,” which was exhib-
ited at the Panthéon in Paris in 2006.
His “Anthropodino,” which incorporat-
ed polyamide tulle, carpet, gravel, lava,
stone, glass beads, and a variety of spices
ranging from cumin and saffron to lav-
ender and chamomile, filled New York
City’s Park Avenue Armory in 2009.
This year, “the body that carries me,”
a special selection of his work created
from the late ‘80s to the present, is being
exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum
in Bilbao, Spain.
Hrafnkell Sigurðsson
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1963)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland
Hreinn Friðfinsson
Born: Dalir, Iceland (1943)
Lives and works in: Amsterdam, The
Netherlands
A graduate of the Icelandic Academy
of Arts and Crafts and a co-founder of
Reykjavík’s Gallerí SÚM, Hreinn Frið-
finsson was the first artist to be rep-
resented by i8. Hreinn’s simple (some
say “lyrical”) compositions are made of
found objects, primarily in materials
that are by nature frail or illusory. His
vocabulary, underscored by a delicate
sense of humour, considers time, the
ephemerality of the moment, metaphys-
ics as well as the duality of all things. His
work is exhibited in museums in France,
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Sweden, and The
Netherlands.
Ignacio Uriarte
Born: Krefeld, Germany (1972)
Lives and works in: Berlin, Germany
Ingólfur Arnarsson
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1956)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland
Janice Kerbel
Born: Toronto, Canada (1969)
Lives and works in: London, England
Karin Sander
Born: Bensberg, Nordrhein-Westfalen,
Germany (1957)
Lives and works in: Berlin, Germany;
Zurich, Switzerland
Kristján Guðmundsson
Born: Snæfellsnes, Iceland (1941)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland
Lawrence Weiner
Born: Bronx, New York, USA (1942)
Lives and works in: New York, USA;
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
One of i8’s impressive “old white guys,”
Lawrence Weiner is a central figure of
the Conceptual Art movement who first
gained recognition in the 1960s. His
most well-known pieces are text-based
wall installations which both focus “on
the potential for language to serve as
an art form,” as well as underline the
basic physical process of creation. This
is exemplified through his 1968 piece
“ONE QUART GREEN EXTERIOR IN-
DUSTRIAL ENAMEL THROWN ON A
BRICK WALL” which is—and reads—
exactly that. More recently, major retro-
spectives of Lawrence’s work have been
organised by the Museum of Contem-
porary Art in Los Angeles, the Whitney
Museum of American Art, the Museu
d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, and
the Palazzo Bembo in Venice, Italy.
Margrét Blöndal
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1970)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland
i8’s Margrét Blöndal, works in a variety
of media, creating drawings, photo-
graphs and three-dimensional works
that often engage the idiosyncrasies of
a given space. Subtle transformations
are an integral component of the work,
in which she uses commonplace materi-
als and objects that are rendered useless
or even unrecognisable when they are
removed from any practical context. The
recipient of the Richard Serra Award
in 2002 and an Icelandic Art Award in
2006, Margrét’s work is exhibited widely
around Europe and the US.
Ólafur Elíasson
Born: Copenhagen, Denmark (1967)
Lives and works in: Copenhagen, Den-
mark; Berlin, Germany
Danish-Icelandic installation artist Óla-
fur Elíasson needs no introduction, as
his expansive, site-specific and experi-
ential pieces have gained him accolades
and acclaim around the world. “The
Weather Project” filled the Tate Mod-
ern’s Turbine Hall with a giant sun as
well as gathering and ebbing clouds of
mist in 2003. In 2008, the Public Art
Fund commissioned Ólafur to create
four waterfalls around the New York
City waterway. He also collaborated with
Henning Larsen architects to design the
façade of Reykjavík’s Harpa concert hall.
Ragna Róbertsdóttir
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1945)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland;
Berlin, Germany
Ragnar Kjartansson
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1976)
Lives and works in: Reykjavík, Iceland
Wunderkind Ragnar Kjartansson
trained as a painter at Iceland’s Acad-
emy of the Arts, but has since primar-
ily dedicated his time and talent to per-
formance art, video installation, and
music. In 2009, at the age of 33, Ragnar
became the youngest artist to represent
Iceland at the Venice Biennale, where he
presented the five-channel installation
“The End,” which was filmed at multiple
Rocky Mountain sites in the middle of
winter. Most recently, copies of his nine-
screen installation “The Visitors,” were
bought by such venerable institutions as
the Museum of Modern Art in New York
City and the Migros Museum in Zurich,
Switzerland.
Roni Horn
Born: New York, USA (1955)
Lives and works in: New York; Reykja-
vík, Iceland
Sigurður Guðmundsson
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1942)
Lives and works in: Iceland and China
(Xiamen; Beijing)
Over the course of nearly five decades,
Sigurður Guðmundsson has played a
founding role in the Icelandic art scene.
In 1969, he co-founded Reykjavík’s
Gallerí SÚM (with fellow i8 artist Hre-
inn Friðfinsson), and over the next ten
years, he also founded the In-Out Center
in Amsterdam and Reykjavík’s Living
Art Museum. Not only does Sigurður
travel between countries to create his art
(he has worked in China, Iceland, Swe-
den, and The Netherlands), but he also
moves between media. One of his most
renowned works is the photographic
series “Situations,” in which he illus-
trates an abstract idea or phrase with an
equally abstract—and often absurd, or
humorous—image. Take, for example,
“Question,” a photograph of the young
artist with an egg in his mouth, holding
a chicken in front of himself. Recently,
Sigurður has turned more of his atten-
tion to sculpture, using bronze, stone,
Chinese lacquerwork, brick and other
media. These works are often public
installations: his “Shore Piece” is per-
manently installed along the Reykjavík
coastline and his giant granite “Eggs”
line the harbour in Djúpivogur, Iceland.
Þór Vigfússon
Born: Reykjavík, Iceland (1954)
Lives and works in: Djúpivogur; Reykja-
vík, Iceland
Tónastöðin, Skipholt 50d, 105 Reykjavík,
s. 552.1185, www.tonastodin.isThe Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 5 — 2014
Work by Ingólfur Arnarsson
Feature | Art
Kolabrautin is on
4th floor Harpa
Reservations
+354 519 9700
info@kolabrautin.is
www.kolabrautin.is
A dinner or lunch at the elevated fourth floor of Harpa concert hall is a destination
in itself. Relax and enjoy fine Italian cuisine complemented with a spectacular
panoramic view of Reykjavík and the surrounding horizon.
UNIQUE EXPERIENCE
AND A VIEW LIKE NO OTHER