Pleaser - Harpa Björnsdóttir

The work of Harpa Björnsdóttir (b. 1955) deals in one way or another with the role and place of the artist, the message he brings to his environment and the cultural world of ideas and symbols which artists often refer to. The creation, the truth in art and the route to the core of the artistic experience are subjects close to her and she has made ambiguous pieces where the classical world of symbols and historical references guide the viewer´s artistic experience. She has found a channel for her ideas in a variety of mediums and has exhibited paintings, sculptures, reliefs, water colours, prints, photographs and video installations in addition to her poetry having been published.

In the piece Pleaser from 2007, the artist uses herself as subject. She approaches the idea of the artist as a bringer of joy with childlike humour by bringing together a human being and a bird, both sing to their hearts´ content and bear fruit in the minds of human beings. Beneath, however, there is always the ambiguous idea of hidden pain and the person that squeals and what innocent song can set in motion. The artist´s personal symbolism also comes into its own in the piece Wild Maidens and Labyrinths (2011) where she makes an arrangement of photographs, drawings and small plaster sculptures, which together forms a whole and describes a personal world of symbols. Near childlike drawings of labyrinths with symbolic beings at the form´s centre, a photograph of historical Gobelin tapestry from the 16th century, a photograph of a wild maiden in Icelandic nature and a conch, centre around the idea of that which nourishes the artistic experience. Two wild maidens, one a classical symbolic image on Gobelin tapestry who nourishes a unicorn with breast milk and the other, the valkyrie of Icelandic nature, are the symbolic images of creation and fecundity. They are viewed in the context of labyrinths which are a symbol of a journey through life. The journey through these labyrinths guides the viewer to mythical beings, who link together cultural symbolic images and a personal journey. The pieces bear witness to Harpa´s interest in the artist´s relationship with her own world of ideas whilst at the same time seeking inspiration in a cultural world of symbols.

Harpa´s artistic career has in many ways been typical of the career of many Icelandic artists who have devoted themselves to the creation of art alongside various jobs, all important to the life of art in the country. Harpa has behind her a career of almost three decades in the visual arts and has in that time taken part in numerous group exhibitions and held over twenty private exhibitions. Harpa studied at the Iceland College of Arts and Crafts 1976 – 1982 while also a visiting student in Dublin, Ireland. She held her first private exhibition in 1984 and has held private exhibitions e.g. in Kjarvalsstaðir, in the ASÍ Art Museum and in Hafnarborg in 1995. Most museums in the country own works by Harpa. Alongside visual arts, Harpa has been a productive curator, teacher and organiser of varied events related to painting, e.g. in the Gerðuberg Culture Center and in the Icelandic Folk and Outsider Art Museum on Svalbarðsströnd in addition to being project manager of Cultural Night in Reykjavík and the managing director of the Reykjavík Arts Festival.