3 minute read
CREATING A SUBLIME EXPERIENCE IN SEATTLE JÓNSI
By Leslie Anne Anderson, Director of Collections,Exhibitions, and Programs
LA: Leslie Anne Anderson, Director of Collections, Exhibitions, and Programs, National Nordic Museum
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J: Jónsi, Visual and Performing Artist
LA: How did your interest in the visual arts develop? Did it arise from or alongside your work in the performing arts?
J: I’ve always been interested in visual arts. When I was in school, art and music were the only things I was good at, so I started drawing a lot. Iceland is a small country so you grow up with a lot of musicians and artists side-by-side when you’re in that Reykjavík scene. Back when things started getting busier with Sigur Rós, I dropped a lot of the art stuff to focus on music. If music hadn’t taken over I probably would have done something in the visual arts sooner.
LA: Your work as a multimedia artist engages the faculties of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. It is multisensory, requiring no prior study on the part of the person experiencing it for understanding. How do universality and accessibility figure in the conception of your work?
J: With my artwork, I want to stimulate and trigger as many senses as possible. I want to move people in some way, whether it’s through the eyes, ears, nose, or something else. I just want people to feel something, not in that silent, clean, anal, academic way museums sometimes are.
LA: A sense of place is communicated through your work. The atmospheric conditions evoked through Hvítblinda (Whiteout) (2019) or geothermal energy of Hrafntinna (Obsidian) (2021) transport the audience to an active Icelandic landscape altered at times temporarily or permanently. What role does the environment play in your creative process?
J: Icelandic landscape almost subconsciously influences my work after having lived there for so long. When you live in Iceland, the bleak, brutal, and beautiful nature is always there. There’s no escaping it.
Environment in general plays a large role in my creative process. More so now than ever before. We’re constantly fed news and images of environmental chaos and destruction online, yet nothing significant is being done to protect our Earth. As a society, we continue on as if everything is fine. This climate dread directly impacts my work because it is impossible to ignore.
LA: You are now a resident of Los Angeles. How has the West Coast inspired you?
J: A lot of different ways, I guess. When I first moved to LA, I was away from family and friends, which gave me more time to think about art. In Iceland, I didn’t have a physical space to experiment with art, but now I’m renting an art space downtown which has been great for exploring different ideas and techniques. Also, I just love all the sun and light I’m getting here now, it feels necessary.
LA: Describe the work you have created for the exhibition at the National Nordic Museum. From what sources have you drawn inspiration?
J: It is a spatial scent and sound sculpture, my main inspiration being the ocean. First I was thinking about how Reykjavík and Seattle connect as sister cities, both being these coastal fishing cities with a certain darkness and depression around them, and the ocean being this ominous and mysterious force playing a central part in our lives. It’s basically about “the big wave,” a wave that takes us all and destroys everything in its path. The effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, flooding, and intensified natural disasters, are happening all around us, and this piece is a reflection of that dire reality.
LA: What inner visualizations and feelings will the work elicit in visitors?
J: I hope it’ll be different for everyone, but I’m creating a certain mood and atmosphere that maybe leaves you feeling moved in some way–inspired, worried, or simply stimulated.
LA: What is next for you as a visual artist?
J: Hopefully more exhibitions. After I finish touring with Sigur Rós this summer, I can focus more on creating art and experimenting with new materials.
Jónsi: FLOĐ can be experienced through July 30, 2023 at the Museum.
The exhibition has been made possible in part by Icelandair, Parsons + Co, KEXP, Port of Seattle, The Seattle Reykjavik-Sister City Association, Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, 4Culture, Scan Design Foundation, Office of Arts & Culture
IMAGES FEATURED TOP TO BOTTOM: Jónsi during the installation of FLOĐ (Photo by Jim Bennett/Photo Bakery for KEXP). The FLOĐ team (l to r): Albert Trujillo, curator Leslie Anne Anderson, artist Jónsi, Mailinda Moore, studio manager Damon Dorsey, and music producer Paul Corley. Artist Jónsi and curator Leslie Anne Anderson at the opening (Nick Klein photographs).
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