Helgi Þorgils Fríðjonsson
On the nature of beauty and the beauty of nature
The Akureyri Art Museum is presenting one of the
most well known contemporary painters of Iceland: Helgi Þorgils Friðjonsson.
His approach to nature as the leading subject of the history of Icelandic
painting is not a formal, minimalist or conceptual one; he works with a mixture
of surrealism and naïve painting. But what seems to be old fashioned
at first sight is nothing else but a strong, subjective expression with knowledge
of the history of art.
This single show in one of the most interesting museums of Iceland concentrates
on beauty in his paintings, sculptures and drawings. Following text is an
excerpt of the catalogue.
Art is a rose whose thorns spike our eyes. Abandoning representation
in art led to a change in the aesthetic anticipation.
Even the subjective, the search for the unconscious and the subconscious,
the divine and the metaphysical, the concealed – were replaced by an
analytical view on the state of society. Friðjónsson has always
remained anachronistic to this background. While he was at university and
most of his contemporaries were focussing on conceptual or minimalist positions
he took a conscious and equally defiant decision to commit himself to representational
drawing. He absorbed classical art history and the philosophers into himself;
while others were painting gesticulatory pictures he devoted his attention
to the modes of traditional compositions.
The motor and theme of his painting was and is nature, this interest being
one more aspect in which Friðjónsson appears non-contemporary –
even within the context of the history of Icelandic painting in which nature
or landscapes play a vital role. All this had led to Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson
developing an independent and wilful visual language that is internationally
comprehendible while its heart is of an Icelandic nature. A conspicuous aspect
in his paintings is their figurative nature, which we encounter in his unambiguous
drawing and clear use of colouring. It could be claimed that Friðjónsson
is a painter formed by the Florentine Renaissance. This notion may be helpful
since it is reminiscent of the artistic rivalry of 16th century Italian artists.
In the paragon of that time the artistic perception of Venetian artists (such
as Titian), which ascribed chief importance to colour (“colore”),
competed with the Florentine notion of “disegno” (e.g. Raphael).
This refers both to the drawing (i.e. the form) and the “idea”
in the sense of “concetto”. Put very simply, it could be claimed
that these two competing artistic concepts remained influential well into
the 20th century – and maybe even up to the present. Impressionism as
the continuation of Venetian theory; Surrealism as a product of the Florentine
concept. Be that as it may, Friðjónsson’s paintings evolve
from drawings; they develop from lines and the lines from an idea.
If we take a look inside Friðjónsson’s world
of imagery, we note recurring elements of formal vocabulary and motivic. On
the surface and in the graded depths of its visual area the picture is clearly
structured. One central motif is the horizon; it is mostly set quite high
in the picture, giving the observer a sense of vastness. The foreground, middle
and background all distinguish themselves clearly from each other without
it being a question of perspective coherence. Symmetries, chromatic fragmentation
in the golden cut or motivic sequences lend rhythm to the canvas. The colours
are also consistently applied, mostly cool tones of green and blue forming
the screen for warmer tones.
The aspect of symmetry as an overt symbol of constructed matter, as is most
clearly evident in the frequent reflections, characterises the reference to
a higher order, a divine power. When applying this concept Friðjónsson’s
aim is certainly not to set his scenes into the context of a religious perception
of creation as was done in various periods of art history. He rather subordinates
it to the principle of nature; a creative order in which man and beast are
embedded. The compositional framework serves as a stage for the codes of his
image cosmos. The symbols represent references to our reality and yet develop
a life of their own. Multiple recurring elements are present in his pictures:
birds, fish, seals and still-life fruit. The human being in a state of artistic
nudity nonetheless always stands at the heart of the picture’s message
despite appearing to adopt an equal rank in the pictorial system of beings
and things; everything else is in proportion to the human being. The human
in the pictures could be referred to as an inner self-portrait of the artist
whilst largely remaining the projection screen for the observer. The human’s
nakedness is no creatural nakedness. This is an artistic nakedness that refers
to an ideal or heavenly condition. It would nonetheless be misleading to claim
that the fundamental tint of Friðjónsson’s work be determined
by the issue of solitude. In point of fact, every human figure stands in as
much or as little relation to the others as, for instance, every animal or
plant. Consequently, all beings exist autonomously for themselves, but with
regard to form and content they are embedded within a superior context. It
is less a question of solitude and more one of autonomy, of a sole existence
that is steeped in melancholy. The being seeks to overcome creatural finiteness
through its creative aspiration. Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson
creates image worlds full of harmony and beauty as thought-provoking and enigmatic
statements on human existence.
His worlds are excessively real, both the static composition and the collective
and adjacent nature of the figures and beings denote timelessness. There is
a harmony in them that refers to the origin, to paradise, and appears to provide
no room for death and decay. Whilst this other side of life is concealed,
it is still constantly present. Death appears in the form of clothing or is
found – rather like an art-historical citation – in constantly
recurring still life. In this respect Friðjónsson’s pictures
remain dialectic: they broach the issue of creativity and conceal death. They
present themselves in the attire of timelessness, thus bearing finiteness.
They unfold in the supernatural and yet address the essence of the real, the
essence of the human being and that of nature.
CS
(Translated from German by Kayvan Rouhani)
