Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2018, Síða 40

40The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08 — 2018
Illustration, poetry, music—there are
few mediums that Ólöf Rún Benediks-
dóttir doesn’t dip her toe into. While
she’s known primarily for her surreal-
ist art and equally unorthodox poetry,
the young artist is also a jazz singer, DJ,
and a co-organiser of Norðanpaunk and
the Tjarnarslamm poetry slams. We sat
down with the busy bee to find out the
formative influences.

Natural sciences
I devour every docuseries, from David
Attenborough to Carl Sagan's ‘Cosmos.’
I also take online courses in astrobiol-
ogy because it’s just so fascinating to
muse about possible life forms on other
planets. And cosmology. I almost don’t
understand anything that’s going on in
a cosmology documentary, but the uni-
verse is so fascinating; especially how
stars are formed, and how they, in turn,
create heavier elements that make the
formation of rocky planets like our own
possible. The fact that humans, or any
complex multicellular organisms, ex-
ist seems to be such an absurd chance
happening that I can almost believe
there is some divine mind behind all of
it. Almost. I just feel like if I understand
the world, I will be happier. Also, how
can you worry about things once you
are aware of your status as a speck of
dust on a rather small planet circling a
mid-sized star in an infinite universe?
Kirkjubæjarklaustur
I was raised in Kirkjubæjarklaus-
tur like a little wildling. My brother
and I had some amount of structure
but mostly went about our day how-
ever we pleased. I would read books,
draw, or hang around the small for-
est in the hills behind our house and
climb the rocks in the waterfall. The
real world and the books I was reading
would mix in my head and I remem-
ber having really vivid fantasies. For
example, I was convinced that there
was a portal to another dimension
underneath a kerra that was near my
home. From time to time I really need
to take walks around wooded areas
to calm down and get my thoughts in
order. It gives me the energy to create.
‘Ghost In The Shell’ & ‘Æon Flux’
I love anime and cartoons. The colours,
flat surfaces, defined outlines—it’s just
so visually pleasing. Set something in
a futuristic sci-fi world and I am sold.
‘Ghost in the Shell’ is one of my favour-
ites. I like its philosophical take on
what a soul is and what makes a hu-
man being. ‘Æon Flux’ is another. Peter
Chung’s drawing captivates me as well
as the strange storyline. You can really
feel that they started off with aesthet-
ics and built the story around that.
Egon Schiele
Schiele's style was one of the first I fell
absolutely in love with. His line is so
fluent and he uses colour just to accen-
tuate lines and surfaces. I really love
how twisted and strange his portray-
als of the human body are whilst still
being absolutely believable. It's the
same thing that drew me to ‘Æon Flux’
and I later found out that the creator,
Peter Chung, was heavily influenced
by Schiele.
Norðanpaunk
Being a part of the Norðanpaunk com-
munity has really changed the way I
create. The DIY attitude of not waiting
for your chance to come but just going
out there and making it happen is re-
ally empowering. You don’t need the
proper funds, the proper means, you
just throw yourself off a cliff and hope
you land smoothly because you're never
gonna be entirely ready anyways. Most
of all I think the attitude of not need-
ing approval is a really healthy trait for
creators.
Schiele, DIY, And
Interdimensional Portals With
Ólöf Rún Benediktsdóttir
An inhabitant of the small blue dot
Ólöf Rún: interdimenional artist, poet and jazz singer
MAKING OF
AN ARTIST
Words: Ólöf Rún
Benediktsdóttir
with Hannah Jane
Cohen

Photo:
Art Bicnick
Culture