Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.07.2017, Síða 22

Words: Paul Fontaine
Photos: Varvara Lozenko
“I'm not educated in art,” Jóhann
tells us at his home in Vestur-
bær. “At a very early age, when
the French New Wave came, the
Icelandic cinemas didn't want
to show it. But a theatre in Kó-
pavogur, where I lived, regularly
showed these films in the early
60s. I think that's what turned me
to drawing and painting.”
Jóhann’s art defies immediate
categorisation. You could call it
Abstract Expressionism, but that
really doesn’t do it justice. Wheth-
er in oil, markers, or ink, the com-
mon thread that runs through all
his work is a series of images that
change ever so slightly with each
iteration. Although he started
drawing and painting at the age of
twelve, he dove headfirst into art
full time much more recently.
Spectrums and fractals
“It wasn't until about five years
ago, during a depression evalua-
tion, that I got a letter at home say-
ing that I was on the autism spec-
trum,” Jóhann tells us. “I didn't
know much about autism, except
in the extreme, so I decided to do
some reading online, and then eve-
rything became clear to me, such
as why I was walking on my toes
until I was four or five, why I didn't
use cutlery until I was twelve, and
why I had always played alone, and
always with books. I didn't have
any toys. It also explains why I do
fractals.”
Jóhann also likes to make use of
asemic writing: script that looks
like language, but isn’t. The inspi-
ration for this came from a visit to
the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Paris,
listening to the intonations of the
clergy. “The sound in the air at
Sacre-Coeur was so amazing, yet
I didn't understand a single word,”
he remembers
Jóhann’s apartment is a testa-
ment to his level of productivity.
The walls are nearly entirely cov-
ered with his work, and where wall
space ends, even more works are
stacked in rows against the walls.
Works elbowing their
way forward
“Sometimes I think I'm pos-
sessed,” he explains. “I have stacks
of works yet to do in my head. One
of the things that
stops me f rom
f i n i s h i n g t h i s
trilogy about my
recently passed
brother is that
there are other
works trying to
elbow their way
for w a rd i n my
head."
W h i le m a ny
artists will com-
monly contend that their finished
works often look utterly different
from their original intent, this is
far from the case for Jóhann.
“I think the picture completely
through before I start,” he says.
“It's already here in my head. It has
to be the same as it is in my head.”
Despite his prodigious output,
it wasn't until Jóhann’s son posted
some of his photos on Facebook
that people overseas began to pay
attention to him. But as yet, he has
had no exhibitions in Iceland.
Inspiration can come from
literally anywhere. Some of his
works were inspired by his moth-
er’s knitting. Others are reinter-
preted memories of his travels in
Turkey and Poland. Meditation has
also been helpful for his creative
process—engaging in a mindful-
ness exercise in which, as he puts
it, “I am the painting.”
Spectrums and
rainbows
Jóhann also combines poetry with
his art. Like his paintings, they
are reflections of deeply personal
moments in his life; some of them
painful, some of them joyful. A
wonderful example of this is a se-
ries of works involving rainbows
and asemic script. These are no or-
dinary rainbows, though, but ref-
erence Bífröst, the famed rainbow
bridge of Norse mythology. There
is, though, much more to it than
that.
"You can see Bífröst here as
a rainbow,” Jóhann says. “But if
you go to one side a step and say,
‘If it's your rainbow, what does it
look like?’ Do you
have the spectrum
of light? Not nec-
essarily. You have
good days, bad days,
happy days. So this
would be your spec-
trum, your rain-
bow.”
Until Jóhann has
a major exhibition,
he advises that peo-
ple interested in his
work visit his Facebook. “Or if they
just want to stop by, they can,” he
says. “I'm here most of the time.”
22 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2017
What Does Your
Rainbow Look
Like?
Self-taught artist Jóhann S. Vilhjálmsson
“Sometimes
I think I'm
possessed. I
have stacks of
works yet to do
in my head.”
HUMANS OF REYKJAVÍK
The artist and the products of his mind
www.borgarbokasafn.is
literature@reykjavik.is
Tel. 411-6100
Every Thursday in June,
July and August at 3pm.

This 90 min. walk is at an easy
pace and starts at Reykjavík
City Library in Tryggvagata 15.

Tickets are 1500 ISK, avail.
at tix.is and at the library.

Free for children under 18.
Dark Deeds
in Reykjavík
A Literary Walking Tour
Join us for a fun
introduction to Icelandic
crime fiction
and more...
ghouls
ghost stories
PLEASED TO MEAT YOU!
NO. 02
the lamburger
www.fabrikkan.is
Made from fresh Icelandic
lamb, it will make your taste
buds cry from sheer
happiness
120 g Lamburger (lamb) in a
freshly baked Brioche bun with
mushrooms grilled with garlic,
cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red
onions and sauce Béarnaise.
WWW.HANDKNIT.IS
• Skólavör›ustígur 19 tel.: (+354) 552 1890
• Borgartún 31 tel.: (+354) 562 1890