A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
From 1989 I have worked as a full time, professional sculptor. Fellow of the Royal British Society of Sculptors competing at an international level and exhibiting regularly. My style has been described as modernist based formalism with minimalist or constructivist overtones with the second aspect the Japan factor. My Japan related work is influenced by the old Japanese wooden architecture and their traditions. I borrow well known Japanese functional forms, exhibit and perform where culture and customs are different. The concept, material and names of my sculptures are all equally important. My site specific sculptures are often large in scale, made for public or private spaces, with the use of variety of materials. They might reflect forms from nearby structures, architecture, material or history of a site like “Changes” Greenham Common. I have spent most of my professional life involved with public sculpture and after participating in the 2015 Nordic Exhibition SKULPTUR in London I realized after being questioned about “what resonance if any does the Nordic have for you culturally and or within the context of your practice”. My reply was “I find there isn´t much Nordic about my sculptures. I think they have an international appearance. Though the usage of colours or the lack of it in my work comes from when growing up in Iceland. We have the bright summer days and nights and the dark long winters, in addition the closeness to the constant vagaries of the weather. The surface of my sculptures have often to do with contrast, light and shadows rather than colour for the sake of colour.
The environmental installation The Mountain series, 2014-18 of recycled materials influenced me by the location of my studio in Reykjavík, on the site of Iceland’s leading providers of environmental management services and clean energy.
The Barren Wasteland Series 2019 evolved from a July trip to Jökulheimar the home of glaciers, situated in the lower part of the Tungnaá River on the former edge of the Tungnaá Glacier, Iceland. For the past 60 years the glacier has retracted ca.10km on it´s slow but constant drift. The area around Jökulheimar is a barren wasteland of black sand and lava. Photography, using Hasselblad Xpan.