Reykjavík Grapevine - nóv. 2020, Blaðsíða 20

Comfort &
Contrast
Rakel Tómasdóttir finds peace in black and white
Words: Iona Rangeley-Wilson Photo: Art Bicnick
Art
Check out Rakel at rakeltomas.com
or on Instagram at @rakeltomas
Rakel Tomas’ new studio on Gret-
tisgata feels like an extension of
her graphic designs, with black
framed pictures arranged on stark
white walls. “I just really feel com-
fortable with black and white,” she
explains. “I like the contrasts. I
find bright, extreme colours kind
of irritating. I hate the colour yel-
low—I don’t know why.”
Rakel plans on using colour as
her next step, but she hasn’t got
around to it yet. “It’s like a whole
other dimension and I’m just not
that good at it yet. I need to prac-
tise more before I can do an exhi-
bition in colour or something. I do
practice with it a little bit so it will
happen eventually.”
Expression through
body language
Though she claims not to have
mastered colour, black and white
is clearly a dimension that she has
dominated—from the abstract
paintings that combine eyes, nos-
es and lips, to her more clearly dis-
cernible charcoal sketches of faces
and figures.
“It’s kind of a way for me to ex-
press emotions,” she says, gestur-
ing at a print of one of her sketch-
es. “I’ve always been very bad with
words when it comes to describ-
ing how I feel; I’m much more
comfortable with body language.
I find the body very interesting:
it’s fascinating how people com-
municate with their bodies. I look
at photographs and I try to find
pictures that reflect the body lan-
guage of how I’m feeling in that
moment, and I mix them togeth-
er in Photoshop. So I have a very
complete sketch in Photoshop be-
fore I start drawing.”
Her paintings, however, are
more free-flowing. “With those, I
start with one eye or something,
and then just go
where it takes me.
I don’t have a plan
b efore I b e g i n ,
which is kind of re-
freshing compared
to the pencil pro-
cess.”
Making art
accessible
Rakel’s work is not
limited to sketches
and paintings: she
also creates and
sel ls book s and
diaries—her 2021
diary arrived fresh from the pub-
lisher this week—and has even
printed one of her designs onto a
scarf. “I think it’s a nice way for
people who are not yet buying
art to get involved in this world
around what I’m doing,” she ex-
plains. “Especially young people;
they might not yet have an apart-
ment to buy art for, so it’s more
accessible.”
One of Rakel’s projects, an
art book coming out on Decem-
ber 7th, contains all of her pen-
cil drawings from the past three
years alongside the stories behind
them. “This one has a nice story,”
she explains, gesturing to a sketch
of a figure being embraced. “First,
it was about just wanting to be re-
ally close to someone, being really
close to them physically but still
wanting to get closer. This figure
that’s really light—I was going to
fill in the shadows on that face,
but then the person the piece was
about ghosted me, and I didn’t feel
like she deserved to be finished.
But at the same time it is finished
and it’s exactly how it’s supposed
to be.”
Her personal favourites are
the ‘Water’ drawings she created
following time spent in Bali last
year. “That collec-
tion is kind of my
favourite I guess,
because the time
I spent there I was
surfing and diving
and in the water a
lot which is a com-
forting thing for
me,” she says.
Though some
artists might aim
to challenge com-
fort zones, it seems
that Rakel’s art ac-
tually thrives with-
in them. This idea
of comfort is one
she keeps coming back to, sim-
plifying the world into black and
white and body language. There’s
a certain calm in Rakel’s com-
fort zone—it’s a place that makes
sense.
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“I’ve always
been very bad
with words
when it comes
to describing
how I feel; I’m
much more
comfortable
with body lan-
guage.”
All eyes on Rakel
i8 Gallery
Tryggvagata 16
101 Reykjavík
info@i8.is
t: +354 551 3666
www.i8.is
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