16. January - 28. February 2010  

The End - Ragnar Kjartansson

The Icelandic contribution to the 53rd International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia was Ragnar Kjartansson's work The End which is being exhibited at Hafnarborg until the end of February.  Ragnar Kjartansson (b1976), a self-described incurable romantic, whose multifaceted artistic practice is rooted in a tradition of acting and performance with an existential and absurdist sensibility that can be linked to artists ranging from Caspar David Friedrich to Gilbert and George. Kjartansson’s exhibition for Venice, The End, featured a tableau vivant of the artist and his model that lasted for the entire six-months of the Biennale, along with a monumental video and music installation. It was presented in the Palazzo Michiel dal Brusa’, a 14th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal near the Rialto, which has served as the Icelandic Pavilion since 2007. The Pavilion was transferred into a makeshift studio for the Biennale, Kjartansson relentlessly painted the portrait of a young man posing day after day against the backdrop of the Grand Canal. The young man modeling for him smoked cigarettes and drank beer, while clothed only in a bathing suit.

Link to Gallery I8 here
Link to Centre for Icelandic Art here
Link to Gallery Luhring Augustine here

Other links
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/09/07/arts/design/20090907_VENICE_SLIDESHOW_index.html