Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.08.2014, Qupperneq 23

23The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2014
“It seems to be a pattern
in Iceland, whenever
people notice something
in other countries,
something that an
Icelander has done, only
then do Icelanders start
paying attention to it. If
something gets famous
outside of Iceland.”
Old Masters,
New
Dude
Eating babies, retroactively
redesigning Reykjavík,
philosophising...all in a day's work!
Words by Rebecca Scott Lord
Self-portraits by Þrándur Þórarinsson
His subjects have included Grýla, a myth-
ic giantess mentioned in Snorri’s Prose
Edda, historical events like the census
of Iceland in 1703, and a series imagin-
ing Reykjavík “in theory,” had it had the
chance to develop like other Scandina-
vian and Nordic capitals. The traditional
bent of his paintings doesn’t prevent him
from maintaining a sense of humour. It’s
a grim, Icelandic sort of humour, which
makes his work all the more apt.
The ‘Reykjavík In Theory’ series
strikes a particular chord with many
viewers, he tells me over the phone from
Copenhagen, where he currently resides.
It was partially him goofing around, and
partially a comment on the recent surge
of construction in the city. “There is so
much hideous architecture in Reykjavík
that could have been so much better. And
it’s mostly going the wrong way, although
there are positive signs. It’s getting more
hideous by the minute.”
A cultural historian
Þrándur has tasked himself with paint-
ing all these things that never had the
chance to be painted. “There is a huge gap
in our art history. Everything was dark
before the nineteenth century, so I’m just
kind of filling in all the paintings that
might have been painted before, if there
had been decent painters around.” Þrán-
dur was naturally drawn to the themes
woven throughout
Icelandic culture
and history, being
half Icelandic and
spending half of his
time growing up
here (the other half
of his childhood was
spent in Norway).
The Icelandic sto-
ries, he says, “make
for very visually
compelling images.
Especially in the
folklore with all
these folklore crea-
tures and things. That’s usually what I go
for when I pick a subject, something that
will look quite interesting.”
Despite the fact that the rest of the
world isn’t overly familiar with Icelan-
dic history and culture, Þrándur says
his work seems to have a universal ap-
peal. He gets a lot of
Facebook comments
on the paintings he
posts, more so on the
ones with creatures
from Icelandic folk-
tales, he notes. His
aim for a successful
painting is one where
it doesn’t matter if
people understand
the context and his-
tory. “When the story
is completely con-
tained in the painting,
when you can tell by
just looking at the painting what has hap-
pened, what is about to happen, and what
is happening; I always find that quite
an achievement. If you can sort of put a
whole story in the painting and you don’t
He’s young—only 36—but creates his work using the same
methods that artists employed hundreds of years ago. His
techniques are like those of the Old Masters (even though
it’s impossible to say for certain exactly what methods they
employed). He paints in oil with turpentine and rabbit skin
glue on canvas, old-school style, and uses a steady build-up
of layers to craft his images. It takes him anywhere from a
few weeks to several months to finish a painting, waiting
for each layer he sets down to dry before he starts on the
next. His palette is subdued and rich, naturalistic though
the subject matter is sometimes fantastic, and always calls
upon some facet of Icelandic history or culture.