Winter in Strasbourg

 

The artist interacts with and feeds off his environment, its rules and traditions, its language and culture. New places have new rules, both written and unwritten. A new language, a different box to fit in.

What are the boundaries of permissible conduct? When the artist draws, when he paints, when he cuts, does he have to draw in a straight line, paint with a traditional brush, cut on the line, or simply disregard it?

The works depict the artist’s struggle with conforming to the requirements of her novel and often confusing surroundings. They manifest her journey from her faraway origins in the distant North.

Straight, cold, gray lines, her zone of comfort, are boxed in an emotional rollercoaster of novel experiences manifested in the artist’s cultural transformation from an outsider, struggling to become an insider.
 

Nostalgia

 

The artist reflects on her past, her origins, the people around her, her family. The works celebrate Icelandic culture, its manifold colours and shades. They salute the men and women of Iceland, their strong sense of the magical qualities of nature, where dreams are forever one with the harsh reality of the island. The artist recognises the seamstress and the handyman, and their ability to give life to the island’s natural elements.

The works are also novellas of adventure, of the colourful lives of elves and fairies, living in the lava, the moss and stones that make up Iceland’s wondrous landscapes.

The artist is openly nostalgic, the works an attempt to show how the organic flow of forms and colour interacts in a constant struggle with the anarchy of human limitations and boundaries.