”Flodbylja” 2009. Installation view. "Flodbylja" 2010, oil, on canvass.

Flodbylja
The sea and the self-consciousness of a nation in Icelandic contemporary art.
Flóðbylgja, 2010, Oil on canvas, 160 cm X 220 cm ”Flóðbylgja” is a treatment of Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock print ”The Great Wave off Kanagawa”(1829). This painting was shown in conjunction with an animated video ”Reynisdrangar” I made, in an exhibition titled: ”Nordens U-land?, Isländsk konst i kristid” at Färgfabrik Norr in Östersund in Sweden. The three hebrew letters in the lower right hand corner have their origins in Jewish mysticism. The perilous and powerful waters surrounding Iceland teeming with fish and nourishment has since the Viking settlement in 900 A.D. represented a source of freedom for the Icelanders. The sound in ”Reynisdrangar” from the waves breaking provided a companion of ambient sound for the painting. Installation instructions: unfurl the painting and mount it on the wall, pinning each side down with approximately five finishing nails set at equal distance apart for each side. The bottom most edge should rest approximately 90 cm from the floor, aligning the horizon of the picture plane with ”eye level”of an adult of average height.

”Reynisdrangar” 2009. Videostills, HD video animation, dur 3 min.