Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.11.2018, Qupperneq 36

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Beyond Logic
Sara Riel’s ‘Automatic’ brings emotion into motion
Words: Claudia Schultz Photo: Lilja Birgisdóttir
Exhibition
‘Automatic’ opens at Kling og Bang
in The Marshall House on October
20th at 17:00. It runs for five weeks,
with a programme of live and
connected events. More info: this.is/
klingogbang and sarariel.com.
Sara Riel sits casually on a blue
leather couch in her ‘almost New
York loft’ with her excited dog on
her lap. An espresso in one hand
and a laptop in the other, she talks
through a slideshow of her current
work. Her studio, brightened by big
industrial windows and an inspir-
ing feeling of freedom, seems to
invite me to look around and let my
mind wander.
Sara gets up and walks towards
one of her works in progress—a
painting hanging high on the wall,
on a similarly large scale to her
expressive, colourful murals that
dot the city. She explains how, af-
ter a physical breakdown and time
spent in a reha-
bilitation facility,
she found the in-
spiration for her
new series.
“I was taking
my brain into another sphere,” she
says. “Walking in the industrial
area close my workshop, going to
the swimming pool and listening
to music and podcasts and books
by John Cage. It created a bridge to
my new pieces.”
State of being
Sara sees her current working pro-
cess—after which ‘Automatic’ is
named—as an exercise in medita-
tion; in going with the flow. “The
only thing I don’t want myself to
do is to edit and become self-crit-
ical,” she says. “Hesitation makes
the hand become stiffer. Every-
thing becomes more controlled.”
The resulting exhibition is
about showing and allowing this
instinctive, emotional process,
without tight control or overthink-
ing. “Rather than doing it very
logically, like in previous work, I
wanted it to work more on an emo-
tional scale,” Sara explains. “I don’t
get intimidated by a blank piece of
paper anymore. Art is a co-human
state of dropping
out that creates
a bridge into the
st ate of bei ng.
There are no mis-
takes on this jour-
ney, but only going forward and
seeing where it goes.”
Depth and creation
Sara’s new works are abstract,
but blurred, forms sometimes
appear; movements are trace-
able, and the moment of creation
is palpable. “When looking at the
paintings from afar, it’s possible
to see shapes and colours,” says
Sara. “Considering the paintings
in more detail, another level of un-
derstanding opens up.”
“My work, to me, is
practiced. It’s like a
Samurai’s sword.”
The incomparable Sara Riel
i8 Gallery
Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
info@i8.is
t: +354 551 3666
www.i8.is
BIRGIR ANDRÉSSON
INGÓLFUR ARNARSSON
HILDIGUNNUR BIRGISDÓTTIR
MARGRÉT H. BLÖNDAL
ÓLAFUR ELÍASSON
HREINN FRIDFINNSSON
KRISTJÁN GUDMUNDSSON
SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSSON
ELÍN HANSDÓTTIR
RONI HORN
CALLUM INNES
JANICE KERBEL
RAGNAR KJARTANSSON
ALICJA KWADE
ERNESTO NETO
ARNA ÓTTARSDÓTTIR
EGGERT PÉTURSSON
RAGNA RÓBERTSDÓTTIR
KARIN SANDER
EGILL SÆBJÖRNSSON
IGNACIO URIARTE
THÓR VIGFÚSSON
LAWRENCE WEINER
VISIT KÓPAVOGUR
CULTURE HOUSES
AND EXPERIENCE
Cycle Music and Art Festival – Inclusive Nation
EXCLUSIVLY
INCLUSIVE
25/10 – 6/1 2019
&
MENNINGARHUSIN.
K O P A V O G U R . I S
Náttúrufræðistofa Kópavogs Natural History Museum of Kópavogur
Bókasafn Kópavogs Kópavogur Public Library
Hamraborg 4–6 Kópavogur Bus 1, 2, 4, 28, 35 & 36
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