Scan Magazine | Attraction of the Month | Iceland
Attraction of the Month, Iceland
World-class art dominates Reykjavik’s centre Framing the centre of Icelandic capital Reykjavík, the Reykjavik Art Museum’s three locations form a journey through Icelandic and international top art, folktales, sagas and pyramids – all set in fascinating city surroundings.
Reykjavik Art Museum (RAM) is Iceland’s largest network of art museums with a total of three locations within short reach of each other across the heart of the city. In one visit, art lovers can conveniently take in Hafnarhús, Ásmundur Sveinsson Sculpture Museum and Kjarvalsstaðir: three cultural must-sees showcasing traditional, modern and contemporary art, paintings, sculptures and works in different media by established local and international artists.
contemporary shows at Hafnarhús tend toward the progressive and experimental, emphasizing works from established contemporary artists,” explains Berghildur Erla Bernharðsdóttir, RAM’s press officer.
of three years’ work researching and collating the artist’s entire collection of graphic pieces, undertaken by Danielle Kvaran, the exhibition curator. She says: “These works of art reveal a variety of techniques, including stamp prints, lino and wood cuttings, etchings, lithographs and silk prints. It is in the latter that Erró has focused more on digital printing. Most of Erró’s graphic art is based on his older works, such as his paintings, collages and drawings.”
Built in the 1930s, this refurbished fishery office and warehouse now houses the permanent collection of the works of Erró, the Icelander who has become one of Europe’s most notable pop artists.
Erró has collaborated extensively in workshops with a variety of different graphic artists, as well as with printers and publishers of his works in France, Italy, Sweden and elsewhere in Europe.
Pop art by the old harbour
For the first time, the general public are able to view Erró’s graphic art spanning half a century. The exhibition is the result
Iceland’s first for visual arts
By Thomas Bech Hansen | Photos: Reykjavik Art Museum
Hafnarhús is the largest building in RAM, located downtown by the old harbour. “The
100 | Issue 54 | July 2013
Kjarvalsstaðir is the first building in Iceland intentionally designed to display