Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.05.2014, Page 26

Everything
In A Cake
Scrape beneath the icing,
and Dagrún Matthíasdóttir
is describing modern Iceland
26
Ísafjörður-born, Akureyri-based artist
Dagrún Matthíasdóttir uses textual in-
terplays like these as a starting point in
her work. “Allt í köku” is a series of self-
portraits that act as the centre-piece in
Dagrún's new solo show, in which her
sugar-dusted face is surrounded by
fruit, cream and meringues. The ges-
ture turns out to be layered with sweet
and sour meanings.
“I wanted to embody the expression
'allt í köku,'” Dagrún explains. “These
works are actually a little bit about the
situation in Iceland generally, and how
life is here today—the banking prob-
lems, and the crisis. Things were all
cute and fine on the surface, but not
underneath."
Charting Political Trajectories
Dagrún uses foodstuffs to chart soci-
etal and political trajectories. "After the
bubble burst in 2008, people started to
go back to basics,” she says, "like slá-
tur, the Icelandic haggis. There was a
comeback for the old foods.”
Indeed, the first works that the au-
dience sees upon entering Dagrún's
handsome solo show at the Akureyri
Sjónlistamiðstöðin ("Visual Art Cen-
tre") are paintings based on that most
traditional Icelandic foodstuff: salted
fish. As the viewer traverses the large,
light space, and up the stairs to the
airy balcony gallery, both the types of
food and the art media used advance
through the years in a thoughtfully cu-
rated narrative.
“I’ve been thinking about how the
work would fit in this space since Au-
gust last year,” Dagrún says. "I wanted
to start with traditional Icelandic foods,
so when you first enter there’s some-
thing familiar to welcome you. So, first
come the harðfiskur pieces, named “Li-
fið er harðfiskur” (“Life is dried fish”).
Then it moves on, and then again.”
Her thought processes were very
fluid and natural, in a way that seems
particularly Icelandic somehow. "The
ideas just developed,” she explains, "as
things tend to do. It’s hard to explain
how the mind works. I just did it, it came
together. I gave a lot of thought to the
different forms I could use, and how
they’d be positioned and sequenced,
and this is the result."
Using the universal imagery of food
turns out to be an entry point into other
issues that people from many differ-
ent walks of life can relate to. "An el-
derly man came to the exhibition, an
80-something,” smiles Dagrún. “He
was a former banker, and one of my
pieces touches on the subject of mon-
ey—it’s a painting of a king giving cakes
to a woman. And in the next one, she is
returning the cakes. I'm thinking about
the broken system here—beneath the
sweetness, these subjects are there.
The ex-banker, he loved it, he said, “this
is true! You are telling the truth!”
Opening In The Art Valley
This show is just one of several that
open on the same day. They all sit on
the street nicknamed Listagilið, or the
Art Valley, by locals. "Once a month,
there's a day of openings,” she explains.
“We try to have them all the same day,
to create a festival feeling. A lot of peo-
ple are just interested in art, it's very
fun."
And just how many spaces are
there on Listagilið? “Well there’s the art
museum, the Ketilhús, then the home
of an artist, with openings sometimes,
plus the Art Association which has
an exhibition room too. And then also
guest studios for artists to work in, and
my Mjólkurbúðin gallery.” So she runs a
gallery too? “Yes—my first gallery was
just my workshop, with a little room for
openings. Since then, I can't stop, so I
moved into this new space.”
Many of the smaller galleries are la-
bours of love with a little help from cul-
ture funds. “There is funding, but you're
lucky to get it,” Dagrún says, "and it's
not a lot really. This solo show is the first
I've had funding for. I'm hoping to make
a catalogue for the exhibition. I called
the printer and told him how much I
got, and he just laughed, but he says we
can to make a deal... it's a start, a good
start. Maybe after getting this one, I’ll
apply for more.”
At Home In Akureyri
I wonder how it feels to have a home-
town opening like this, in the view of
friends, family, colleagues and the local
community all at once. “I was surpris-
ingly calm about it,” smiles Dagrún. “A
little high on the opening day, stress-
energy perhaps, but I’m happy with
how the whole process ended. There
were supportive comments and lots of
great company. People came with open
minds. It was magical.”
Such a warm reception explains
why Dagrún is content to live and work
in Akureyri, far from the heightened
and saturated art scenes of London
and New York. "I tend not to think
about that side of things much,” she
says. "I think I'm more in the moment.
Of course, if I get a chance I jump on
it and take part, so I have exhibited
abroad. It's not that difficult I think. The
travelling to go an opening cost is the
only issue. But there’s something about
this town, my family prefers to be here.
I like Reykjavík, but it’s just very nice to
live and work in Akureyri."
And after all, Akureyri is as con-
nected to contemporary life as any-
where. In the show's striking finale,
Dagrún continuously vomits candy-
coloured liquid of various neon hues in
a projected video, the subject being the
very current problem of internet hate
speech.
"The title of this one translates
as 'The Common Talk,'” she explains.
“This piece relates to what's going
on with feminism online. There have
been some very ugly comments, abu-
sive and sexual comments, on femi-
nist sites. The internet is a great place
to express yourself of course, but you
have to think about what you are say-
ing. Some people really just, excuse the
language, talk a lot of shit. They should
be more responsible. Racism and sex-
ism is not okay just because it's online.
I mean, online or offline—people should
be responsible for what they are saying,
wherever it is."
Words by
John Rogers
The phrase “allt í köku” is one of the Icelandic language’s many interesting, old-fashioned aphorisms. It roughly translates as “everything in a cake,”
and while that might not sound like such a bad thing, the phrase is actually a way of saying “everything is in a mess.”
Art
??
The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 5 — 2014
April 12 - May 18. Sjónlistamiðstöðin, Akureyri
Gómsætt / Delicious
“These works are about
the situation in Iceland
generally—the banking
problems, and the cri-
sis. Things were all cute
and fine on the surface,
but not underneath.”