Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.03.2018, Qupperneq 40

40The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 04 — 2018
Solveig Pálsdóttir is a multi-faceted art-
ist. An established illustrator and member
of RVKDTR, she’s about to open her eighth
private exhibition. Her art—both visual
and audible—is intimate, erotic, and al-
most disturbing in its intricacies. From
‘Pussy Pics’ to dandy-esque nudes, Solveig
pushes mediums wherever she goes.
My grandparents
In regards to art, my grandmother,
teacher and artist Vigdís Pálsdóttir,
and my grandfather, actor and direc-
tor Baldvin Halldórsson, are the pillars
on which everything else is built. My
grandfather gave me my love of poetry
and performance and my grandmoth-
er, my love of drawing. Their home was
like a church to me, filled with art from
around the world and books about al-
most everything.
‘A History of Underground Comics’
On the top shelf of my parents living
room, it taunted me: The book my fa-
ther had forbidden me to read. The
colourful cover was reason enough to
overcome my paralysing fear of heights
and climb up. Surrealism, crazy sex
and a lot of drugs and rock’n roll—the
book detailed the underground San
Francisco comic scene in the seventies.
I met my love, Robert Crumb, and lat-
er spent hours under my bed trying to
emulate the pornographic images in it
(in secret).
Arnar Herbertsson
Arnar Herbertsson is my absolute fa-
vourite Icelandic artist. His texture,
colour, perspectives—I fell and am
still in love. Arnar’s paintings are al-
most meditative and holy to me. In my
twenties, the painter himself gave me
a piece called ‘Blue Piano’ so now I can
go into my living room and fall into a
trance whenever I want.
Reykjavíkurdætur
The bizarre journey your life takes you
when you just trust and let go is crazy.
I could have never imagined these last
four years and the women I’ve shared
them with teach me something new
every day. I’ve gotten to perform in
countless concerts, directed a video,
recorded an album, did the album cov-
er, made a play, and toured all over the
world. The daughters have taught me
the importance of dreaming big, work-
ing hard, and the power of teamwork.
It’s not always a bed of roses but com-
munication and respect are key and of
course, love. There’s a lot of love there.
The RVKDTR school may only graduate
me once I die…. I think we may be a cult.
The Dark Crystal
There is always that one movie you
watched so many times you could act
it out scene-for-scene until the tape fell
apart. Yes, I said tape…. My siblings and
I replayed Jim Henson’s ‘The Dark Crys-
tal’ relentlessly to our Disney-hating fa-
thers’ delight. We reenacted the scenes
out in the garden and knew the lines
word by word. The film was mesmer-
ising—for creatures so real but mere
puppets, the incredible landscape just a
simple painting but so alive to me. The
film is always in the back of my head as
the ideal man-made world and it some-
times oozes out into my artwork.
101 Reykjavík
It’s sad but true: growing up in 101 is
hard. People in parliament don’t like us
and despite having never liked lattes,
I’m petrified of wearing a scarf. The
amount of creative people around has
decreased but one day when the tourists
leave, it will be like the olden days, full
of little stores not run by corporations
but real human beings. After grad-
uation from fine arts post-financial
collapse, artist Þorgerður Ólafsdóttir
and I opened a gallery on Laugavegur
called Gallery Crymo. Such things were
still doable back then. It hosted about
91 exhibitions during its three-year
lifespan. I learned shitloads. My neigh-
bourhood has made me the artist I am
by letting me experience such endeav-
ours.
Culture
Erotica, Words & A Lotta Girls
With Sólveig Pálsdóttir
Things to know about Sólveig
How does one become a Sólveig Pálsdóttir? Find our below...
gpv.is/making
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MAKING OF
AN ARTIST
Words:
Solveig Pálsdóttir
with Hannah Jane
Cohen

Photo:
Art Bicnick
“There is always
that one movie
you watched so
many times you
could act it out
scene-for-scene
until the tape fell
apart.”