AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.2003, Page 61

Future Life of Stones
these „localisecT sculptures was
held in the central exhibition
space of the gallery Kjarvalsstaðir,
which confirmed the unique posi-
tion of Örn in the lcelandic
world of art.
The picture language and the
form-thought of Örn has not
changed radically from the begin-
ning of the seventies, when he
exhibited his first paintings.
The reference of this picture lan-
guage is Nature, a collection of
irregular forms that shape a kind
of living and constantly changing
whole. One can say that in this
whole, the natural world of man
meets the diverse outer world
of Nature creating diverse varia-
tions of art as a result of the work
of the creative individual.
Earlier on, Örn used the endless
possibilities of the painting and
knitted together large and small
areas, concave forms and rectan-
gular, colourful details and plain
until the spectator stood in front
of a world of images full of inner
life.
Sculpture does not permit as
great irrelevancies. The rocks that
are available in lceland are usually
not very big - Gustav Vigeland
would probably not have thrived
in this country - and in addition, it
can be faulty inside and difficult
to work with. Örn therefore works
with powerful contained forms or
phenomena, those that chiefly
„live“ in the rocks he is working
with at any particular time. In this
manner, he resembles the painter
Kjarval who declared intention
was to describe the reality behind
Nature.
It is informative to look at the
artist at work; to see how he
looks carefully at each stone, pet-
ting it lightly with a chisel until it
„declares itself, “ so to speak. The
stone tells the artist what it wants
to be. In the hands of Örn, just as
in the hands of Kjarval, Nature
receives artistic future life. ■
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