Reykjavík Grapevine - 21.06.2019, Side 24

“What has inspired me the most is the
environment, and people,” announces
Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir. The lauded
sculptor claps her hands together, as if
repeating a mantra. “Society,” she con-
tinues. “The larger picture.” She stops
and smiles—a stark contrast to the se-
riousness of her previous statement.
The artist—one of Iceland’s most
beloved—has a characteristic style so
iconic that you would recognise her
pieces immediately. Abstract, faceless,
and bursting with texture and organic
matter, her life-size human sculptures
are an eerie depiction of humanity in
which beings are genderless and ex-
pressionless, but still filled with the
light of life.
The natural choice
“When I was in school, I‘d sometimes
say that there was really nothing else
that came to mind [as a career] other
than art,” says Steinunn, sitting back
in her office off the side of her massive
Vesturbær studio, which is filled to the
brim with sculptures of all shapes and
sizes. “It was a natural choice.”
She travelled to England to study,
and it was there that she discovered
the joy of sculpture. “Once I started
with three dimensional work, it was
like coming home,” she says. “My first
solo show was in 1979, so I’ve been a
figurative sculptor for 40 years now.
That’s a long time I’ve been working
with it.”
She waves her hand, referencing
the studio rife with figurative sculp-
tures. “Sometimes I joke that I’ve only
had one idea in my whole career,” she
laughs. “But it’s a big one, and an end-
less source—the human condition.”
Armors & borders
If you want to understand Steinunn’s
work, you need but look at ‘Borders,’
which debuted in 2011 at the United
Nations Headquarters in New York
City. The 26-piece installation dives
deep into the intrinsic properties of
a border. “There are pairs of figures,
one is cast iron and the other alumin-
ium,” Steinunn explains. “They were
lined up along a square. The idea was
that the viewer can
cross the border
and connect them
together.”
The pieces are
different colours,
but they mirror
each other perfect-
ly. “The thought is
that despite our
differences we are
all connected,” says
Steinunn. And de-
spite beginning the
installation in 2009, Steinunn finds
the concept has only become more im-
portant with time. “It’s still relevant,”
she states.
Years later in 2018, she presented
a project called ‘Armors,’ which simi-
larly explored the idea of dualism. In
the Fort Tryon Park next to the Clois-
ters museum in New York City, which
houses the Metropolitan Museum of
Art's medieval collection, two sculp-
tures stood in front of each other, one
stark and the other
clad in ornate armour.
The armoured figures
were based on medi-
eval armours from the
permanent collection
of the Met. “There’s the
idea of the contempo-
rary figure against the
medieval armour, but
the postures are the
same,” she explains.
“So this figure could
be inside the armoured
one.”
As she discusses ‘Armors’ she points
towards a glass window in her office
where a smaller sculpture depicts peo-
ple looking at themselves in a mirror.
“Duality is quite interesting for me,”
she explains. “It was a duel between
Culture
One Endless Idea
Sculptor Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir dives into the human condition

Exhibition
Steinunn
Þórarinsdóttir’s
‘Trophies’ will
be showing
on the roof of
the Ministry Of
Finance until
September 1st,
2019
Steinunn's figures in their endless relationships and poses
24The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10— 2019
Words:
Hannah Jane
Cohen
Photos:
Art Bicnick
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