Gunnar Örn

02.04.2004 - 06.05.2004
Stalke Gallery hereby has the pleasure of opening its doors to an exhibition of works by Gunnar Örn.

Gunnar Örn (b. 1946) is considered as one of the most important Icelandic artists, and he is represented in the Icelandic art museums as well as in the Guggenheim Museum in New York. As an artist he is self-taught, and he started exhibiting in the 1970’s. His works have previously been shown at Stalke Gallery in 1997 and 2000. In 1988 he represented Iceland at the Venice Biennial.

In the 1980’s his artistic style was closely related to an Icelandic tradition with inspiration from nature and people’s connection with it, but in the later years he has developed a more abstract and spiritual style. His work is less expressionistic and surrealistic, more meditative, where colours and forms create calm and dream-like images. The colours are soft pastels, light and transparent. A recurring shape in the works is a white oval that is narrower at the bottom, which reminds one of a face or an upside down drop of water. Thus, this shape fluctuates between two of Örn’s traditional motifs: humans and nature. Gunnar Örn often finds his inspiration while meditating, and emphasizes an experience he had while travelling in Greece, where he had an impression of travelling back in time to his own creation. He characterises this experience as a feeling of journeying home, to the beginning of the universe, which has given the exhibition its title. It was also an experience that gave him a feeling of being part of a larger whole, of a sense of unity with the world.

Gunnar Örn’s works appear very open, where the interpretation depends on the viewer’s own approach, what one brings to the work. Thus one can see the works either as pure abstractions or as variations over light and landscapes.

Gunnar Örn’s work is not limited to being a creative artist, he also runs the exhibition space Kampur in Iceland, and has been a curator on several exhibitions at other museums.



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