- To begin with, could you tell us about your early brush with art and sculptures? In what way did it inspire you to get started with?
Besides my father, who was a concert pianist and my mother also had a musical background, used to sing in choirs, and came from an artistic family, and I think her great-grandfather was an ironworker. I began taking ceramics classes when I was four, or drawing and painting classes for kids, likely because I had the genes for it.
Probably because I was always drawing a great deal and doing things, and now that my mom has died, and that my father has also passed away, but in the basement, they keep all my ceramics, all my drawings and paintings from when I was a kid. The idea that I would be an artist was probably what they thought I would become, or I thought that was, maybe, well, that’s also possible, and I also learned to play the cello. After I finished high school, I thought, “I will continue to play the cello, or do art.” I am fortunate that it happened.
- I have noticed your love for staircases and doors along with symmetrical forms, and I was quite fascinated by your sculpture featuring doorways in the plan of Asmundur House? Could you tell us the story behind that particular piece?
I was invited to exhibit at Asmundur Museum, which normally hosts one sculptor to display their work or make pieces related to that artist. He was, like, a modernist, very active, and built this home as his workplace around 1950 back when he was doing very well making these robust figures out of abstract iron.
Since I am not much into figures, bodies, faces, instead I am more into forms, and most of my works are symmetrical. Then the house came as my inspiration. As I was looking, I discovered his book. It was a book that was written about him after he died, or a few years ago, or whatever. As soon as I saw the circular plan, I immediately thought, this is where you are going to come down as there, this is what you are going to see. Also, I thought it was awesome to make the openings and the staircase up and everything.
- In my opinion, art always comes from within, influenced, in part, by the culture and history of the region you reside in, which itself further influences the architecture of that region. What influence has Icelandic culture had on your work?
It is difficult for me to say I have created the man-made landscape, but it has always played a significant role in some of my artwork, and within this context, I actually wanted to depict what you would see outside the many mountains on that scene, yeah, as a panorama in that direction. It all began with sculptures. I made all the mountains that I had in mind, the main mountains seen from Reykjavik, so I made the whole panorama throughout Reykjavik, and that seemed to work.
- Which materials do you use most often while sculpting? Would you like to highlight any particular piece from your latest collection?
I have worked with clay a lot lately. To make things out of clay and make a mold out of plaster, and then cast them in plaster. It’s well, of course, I would like to, one day maybe make it out of marble or, you know, something like that. There aren’t many things like that in Iceland, and I don’t know if I am really good at sculpting, but what matters is that I am a good with clay and know well what I am doing.
