Exhibition of Erró’s Art Opens in Reykjavík
One of Erró's works at the exhibition. Photo/Reykjavík Art Museum
The Power of Images, an art exhibition of about 300 works by Erró, one of Iceland’s best known artists, opened at Reykjavík Art Museum Saturday, mbl.is reports. It is the largest exhibition ever put up of his works in Iceland, offering a comprehensive overview of his colorful career.
Erró, greeting his former schoolmate Sigríður Björnsdóttir, art therapist and the widow of artist Dieter Roth, at the opening of the exhibition. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Erró, born Guðmundur Guðmundsson, will turn 90 years old this year. He was among the most prominent figures of the European avant-garde of the 1960s. “In the history of art of that period, his name is associated not only with the renewal of pictorial figuration, due to his invention of narrative collage-paintings, but also with the Happenings movement and experimental cinema,” an introduction to the exhibition states. “As the forefather of painted collage (that is, the practice of painting based on preparatory montages of ready-made images), he has developed an exuberant saga of consumer society and world politics, often with critical or satirical intent.”
Most of the works exhibited are part of his donation of art to the City of Reykjavík. In 1989, he donated 2,000 works to the city, and the growing collection currently includes close to 4,000 works.
The prolific artist lives in France and still gets up early every day to work at his atelier all day long. The exhibition runs through September 29, after which it will travel to Aarhus, Denmark, and then to Angoulême, France.
For more information, see here .
