Davíð Örn Halldórsson, Best of classic, 2020, mixed media on wooden table, 85×118 cm. Photo: Vigfús Birgisson
Davíð Örn Halldórsson explores unconventional methods of painting; painting and spraying with different paints on found objects. His works are often composed of painted installations, painting on found furniture, floors, ceilings and walls. Next Saturday, Davíð Örn´s third solo exhibition opens in Hverfisgallerí, which consists of works he has been working on in Stuttgart for the past two years. Pétur Már Gunnarsson writes about the exhibition in the same fashion Davíð creates his work:
“A Done Thing. We are interested in the done thing; that which can verify our being. Man’s interest in man is understandably insatiable. Nothing makes man as curious as questions about our existence. Our minds are almost obsessed with two conflicting desires; affirmation and, equally, new questions. Our alleged progress is marred by the doubt which hangs over our heads like the shining blade of the guillotine or a withered mistletoe. Should we fret or should we kiss? To be on the safe side, and to appease our unstable self, we do both.
Life is one reflection of perception after another, amplified by our wonder at the perception phenomenon. This wonder is the core of our awareness. We are a system, rushing in the flow, constantly trying to interpret us – and seeming – as solid material on a steady, well-defined ground. We want clear lines between different parts, defined areas with an obvious purpose. We want the appearance of clear-cut, trained and obedient chaos in limited amounts. We want to see knowledge and confirmation. We want to see power.
The done thing can only be forced. Our attention kills it. We pretend that it had a clear form and particular characteristics. Faced with the done thing, we glimpse a hope of being able to conquer ourselves, understand our existence or hang it up on the wall and assign meaning to it. This hope is in itself mummified, it bears no relation to life except as a description of insanity and the limits of the thinking man.
You might say that the images which Davíð is exhibiting describe this. However, they are different in nature: They are happening.”
Davíð Örn Halldórsson (b. 1976) lives and works in Stuttgart, Germany. Halldórsson mainly works with painting as he has done since graduating from the Visual Arts department of The Icelandic Academy of the Arts in 2002. Halldórsson’s works are often based on events of the daily life; a personal processing of his surroundings, carried out in a visual language, with direct and indirect references to Art History. Halldórsson has held several solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in Iceland and internationally. In the year 2014 he received the prestigious Carnegie Art Award grant to a younger artist.
