Artworks by Sigurdur Olafsson

I was born in Iceland, where I live and work.

Although abstract in nature my work is often inspired by the colors, rhythms, and seasons of the Icelandic landscape.

I work mainly with acrylics on canvas. I use large brushes, but also spatulas, trowels, and other unconventional tools, such as big custom-made squeegees and scrapers. 

My paintings are multi-layered and through an accumulation of spontaneous, reactive gestures I let the paintings almost create themselves. The process is intuitive, but my knowledge of the physical properties of paint, and the way it behaves under different conditions, is also brought into play.

I love old hand-made things that have a history and a soul. Abandoned farmhouses, ghost towns, and other forsaken human relics fascinate me. I like the feelings they evoke and the poignant stories they tell. Weathered layers of peeling paint, rusted metal, and crumbling concrete have a strange visual quality that I find interesting.  

With my art, I try to induce similar feelings in the viewer's mind. I am exploring something that I can only describe as the boundary between order and chaos. I think in that elusive and mysterious area I will find the secrets of creativity itself, or at least continued inspiration on my artistic journey.

What do I want to say with my art?

Treasure your humanity and uniqueness. Meaning can have many layers and it is a worthwhile effort to uncover a few of them. Celebrate the eccentric as well as the mundane, the hidden as well as the obvious. Beauty can be found in the most unlikely of places.