“My point of View” an exhibition by Karl Jóhann Jónsson, opens on Saturday, October 26th, at 14:00 in Gallery Fold.
The title “My Point of View” refers to the variety of works in the exhibition and the different subjects Karl Jóhann engages with. These include portraits, landscapes, and still lives. According to Karl Jóhann, the subjects share a common origin in personal nostalgia and the artistic movement he feels most connected to – realism.
The exhibition’s title reflects Karl Jóhann’s nostalgia for his chosen subjects, a collection of various themes. Subjects that evoke within him a bittersweet sentiment. Subjects such as worn rubber shoes, a hot dog in a bun, a charming birds nest, or freshly washed laundry; maybe a kind of longing for a simpler past found in everyday life.
Though the subject matter appears traditional, Karl Jóhann describes it as his punk response to the attitudes he encountered during his studies, at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts, where teachers glorified the colours, lines and shapes of abstraction while looking down on the romance of portraits.
“In some sort of civilian disobedience and influenced by the new painting movement, when the figure re-entered the canvas, I swung in the opposite direction, and my main focus has been portraiture and still life. There, I’ve allowed myself to find my approach to things that have been painted a million times.”
Karl Jóhann Jónsson (b. 1968) graduated from the painting department of the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts (MHÍ) in 1993 and completed a degree in art education from the Iceland University of the Arts (LHÍ) in 2006. Alongside his work as an artist, he has taught art at Hörðuvallaskóli in Kópavogur as well as at the Reykjavík School of Visual Arts. Karl Jóhann has held numerous solo and group exhibitions. Additionally, he has twice participated in the Danish portrait competition Portræt Nu, organized by the Carlsberg Foundation at Frederiksborg Castle, in both cases his work was selected for exhibition. Besides his art, he has written and illustrated children’s books and illustrated books by other authors. He won the Icelandic Dimmalimm Illustration Award in 2010 for his book Sófus and the Pig.
The exhibition opens on Saturday, October 26th, and closes on
November 16th, 2024. Everyone welcome.
Opening hours in Gallery Fold
Monday – Friday 12-6 PM Saturday 12-4 PM
