In 1933, sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson (1893 – 1982) built a house and studio on Freyjugata on Skólavörðuholt. The house, he designed himself, is one of the most beautiful in Reykjavík. There is now an art gallery and a cafe. In Gryfjan, photographers Hallgerður Hallgrímsdóttir and Veronika Geiger have an open studio, but they are working on an exhibition that opens on June 17. In Ásmundarsalur, the Icelandic artist Melanie Ubaldo (b:1992 in the Philippines) has a wonderful exhibition called Trapo, customized for the hall. Melanie says about the show; ,,The colorful, round, palm-sized rags that my mother and the other women in our slum during my childhood in the Philippines sewed from leftover materials are a particular inspiration for my deconstruction aesthetic. These rags are called trapo in my native Filipino language.” Melanie’s next exhibition is at the Akureyri Art Museum in August. She graduated from the Iceland Academy of the Arts last year, and has received numerous awards for her art, such as the Icelandic Art Prize’s Motivational Award in 2022. Her works can be found in the collections of the Icelandic Museum of Art, Reykjavík Art Museum, Gerðarsafn in Kópavogur and Hafnarborg in Hafnarfjörður. The show ends on June 11.
Photographs & text: Páll Stefánsson
Reykjavík 29/05/2023 : A7C, RX1R II : 2.0/35mmz, 2.8/21mm Z
