Eggert Pétursson

Hafnarborg presents an exhibition of new paintings by one of Icelands best known painters Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956). Petursson has for years painted the Icelandic flora, which he paints with botanical accuracy. He is also known for his drawings in a comprehensive publication of the Icelandic flora, which has received international awards. The exhibition will be on display in Sverrissalur. 

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Paintings
Eggert Pétursson

The paintings of Eggert Pétursson (b. 1956) are a continual record of his rambles in the Icelandic countryside. Pétursson paints fissures, rifts, ravines, sink-holes, mounds, cliffs, hollows, and hummocks. Moss, heath, and tundra flowers tell the story of the artist’s sojourn in nature. They are his account of places far bigger than his paintings. Plants refer to areas; a rock describes a mountain. An arrangement of plants on the picture-plane may thus depict a creek bed or sheep path that the artist has followed. Often a single painting portrays many trips by the artist through a given area, with light and colour suggesting different seasons and hours.

In this exhibition Eggert Pétursson turns to the lava fields. He uses lava, and the moss and flowers that grow in lava, to compose works that convey beauty along with a sense of the danger and perplexity involved in crossing a ruffled sea of lava. Most people in Iceland have walked over lava and experienced the perplexity of crossing its irregular surface. Rifts and fissures are fascinating and excite the imagination but can be threatening and perplexing. Elves and hidden people live in lava, and people crossing lava fields in desolate regions can’t resist peering into rifts, holes, and fissures in search of sheep bones or traces of outlaws’ hideouts. Lava fields contain history and give rise to visions of an existence that no one reports on. The rugged ground offers a view beneath its surface, into the landscape, delving like a true artist’s vision ever deeper and further. Eggert Pétursson’s investigation of the lava reveals that, though danger is near, lava also harbours the softness of moss and bladder-fern in its rifts and folds. The shade of the lava is prime habitat for delicate plants and ferns, while the rough surface is covered with soft moss. A lava field harbours danger but also offers alluring warmth.

Lava has inspired Icelandic artists much as forests inspire artists of other lands. In lava one can hide, get lost, and find tranquillity. In tales and novels, shady creatures slink through the shining moss. Icelandic visual artists such as Ólafur Elíasson, Halldór Ásgeirsson, Steina Vasulka, and Jóhannes Kjarval have incorporated lava into their artwork in performance, installations, video works, and painting. In his book Letters from London and Yet More Rock, Kjarval ponders the alien aspect of the big city in terms of the Icelandic countryside and the cliff-dwellings of elves. Kjarval painted many works in Gallows’ Field (Gálgahraun), choosing a spot and then painting many pictures of the same motif. Kjarval brought the countryside into people’s homes, and also left tell-tale traces in the lava. He not only left his mark on our experience of lava but left marks in the rifts and ravines where he set up to paint. Eggert Pétursson begins by recording ideas in a notebook that he carries on his rambles. He then develops his work in several stages in the studio. Each painting is the fruit of painstaking labour, born of a broad knowledge of local flora and an extraordinary artistic presentation.

Eggert Pétursson began his artistic career around 1980 and was influenced by the conceptual art of the day. He illustrated Icelandic Flora (Íslensk flóra), 1983, enhancing the book with his exceptional technical skill and botanical knowledge. His illustrations were republished in a handsome volume in 2008. Pétursson first exhibited his flower paintings in 1989 and has been renowned for these unique works ever since. The works on display here gather and summarize Pétursson’s examinations of an area he has visited frequently since 2002, the Úthlíð lava field near Biskupstungur in the south of Iceland. Paintings from this locale were prominent in Pétursson’s 2007 retrospective at Kjarvalsstaðir and in his 2009 Blómaland exhibition in Copenhagen. Once beyond the fence surrounding the summer cottages at Úthlíð, you are in wilderness. The lava field lies undisturbed; the ground cover is diverse, the sense of natural abundance strong. This Hafnarborg exhibition is the culmination of Pétursson’s years of examining the region.

Ólöf K. Sigurðardóttir, Director of Hafnarborg