Artist Ingvar Thor Gylfason opened the Blóm og ballett exhibition at Sjælandi restaurant in Garðabær last Friday. The exhibition is Ingvar’s first solo exhibition since 2017 and will be open until April 17.
Musician Aron Can and ballerinas Dagmar Lilja Stefánsdóttir, Guðrún Þorbjörg Guðmundsdóttir and Nína Sigurrós Hjaltadóttir from the Classical School of Performing Arts entertained guests at the opening of the exhibition.
Aron Can Dagmar Lilja Stefánsdóttir, Guðrún Þorbjörg Guðmundsdóttir and Nína Sigurrós Hjaltadottir
“There is no way to express how happy and grateful I am for opening on Friday. Absolutely amazing. The exhibition, Blóm og Ballet, had a truly dream start when Zeeland was filled with art lovers who looked at paintings for an entire evening, which was like a dream,” says Ingvar.
“If that doesn’t make you want to start working on a new show, then nothing will, so I promise it won’t be that long on the next show, and I’ll definitely try to do even better then.”
Ingvar brought Pieta 700,000 ISK.
At the opening, Ingvar Píeta presented the organization with an amount of 700,000 ISK. The amount was collected in less than 24 hours through the sale of a reprint of the work Upprisa that Ingvar painted last year. “It took a long time to make a few copies and let all their sales value go directly to the Pieta Association. I really love this work and hope that as many people as possible who connect with the work or know someone ‘one who has traversed deep valleys will find themselves able to sustain this marvelous and vital organization,” says Ingvar. Also included is a text he wrote when he had just finished painting the work and describes how he saw it. both the work and its creation:
The work of the Resurrection.
“Sometimes ideas come to a person so strongly that they really need to be put into practice immediately so they don’t pop into their heads and be forgotten. This is one of those ideas, but the canvas was intended to something completely different and could hardly have had a better idea painted on it.It’s not often that I have really deep thoughts outside of aesthetics when painting, but this time I do and I feel like I have to explain the work better than usual.
The artwork is called Resurrection and can depict many resurrections that people go through in their lifetime. Whether it’s overcoming an addiction or a more difficult past to navigate your way to a better and brighter life or just changes in people’s lives in general such as a divorce, a loss, a new job or a new environment. Resurrection can be of any kind, but as I try to convey it in this work, it is often to leave behind heavier, darker and more difficult times and begin a search towards a lighter time, brighter and more pleasant. That’s where the dark colors at the bottom of the work come from, which make it go back to the habit, but that’s how it often goes with the changes that it’s hard to change old habits or ideas. The red line through the work represents the pain one must feel when the changes occur and the fear of parting with what one knows. The light colors at the top of the artwork are light and brightness illuminating the way to a brighter and better time where happiness can be found. I mean we all go through many resurrections in our life in search of a better life and to improve ourselves.”
Ragna and Ingvar with Stefán Magnússon, the owner of the Sjéland restaurant.
