Gallerí Fold – “Tað figurativa landlagið”

Finleif Mortensen – Tað figurativa landlagið
9. September – 23. September 2023

Gallerí Fold presents Tað figurativa landlagið, a private exhibition with works by the artist Finleif Mortensen.

 The effect of growing up in the unique Faroese nature has a discernible effect on Finleif Mortensens’s work. The inimitable and ever-changing light, as well as the strong and often contrasting colours that characterize the landscape have an immense impact.

Finleif paints both abstract and figurative works, or immaterial and material, as they say in Icelandic. Concepts that are often considered opposites in art, but in Finleif’s work you can perceive nature in the abstract works and the abstract in the figurative. The scenery around Tórshavn is close to his heart, motifs that are a favourite of many Faroese and Danish artists. Sky and sea. Boulders and familiar mountains. Small and blocky houses and the occasional church appear to either break up the landscape or merge with it, the figurative becomes abstract. 

Like the Impressionists of old, Finleif deals with light, feeling and interpretation. Clear contours in nature dissolve, the colour palette formed in his mind is characterized by different blue-green tones that habitually appear in cloudy conditions and then strong reds and yellows that characterize the sunset. He develops the colour in his paintings with many layers of different hues that shine through each other. The interplay of warm and cold gives his works a certain depth, but also a subtle poetic and detached appearance. 

Finleif Mortensen grew up in the village of Argir just outside Tórshavn. Finleif Mortensen’s debut was in 1985 at the Olavsväku exhibitions in the Faroe Islands. The exhibition is held annually where selected artists show their work. Finleif has since held numerous solo exhibitions in galleries and art museums in the Faroe Islands, Denmark and Iceland.

“Tað figurativa landlagið” is Finleif Mortensen’s third solo exhibition at Gallerí Fold.

The exhibition opens on Saturday, the 9th of September, and runs until the 23rd of September.

 Art Gallery Fold in Rauðarárstígur Reykjavík is open Mon-Fri 10 – 6pm and Saturdays 12-4 pm.