JAN ZIEGLER
Gudny Gudmundsdottir
Berlin, Germany
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Berlin, Germany
Published 31/05/2015 | Updated 05/01/2016
Gudny Gudmundsdottir is a supernatural being from Iceland. Everything she touches becomes part of her fairy world. Her art flies in during the night, from other spheres. This is what you would assume when you meet Gudny in her studio. You can hardly imagine her doing profane labor to create art. So goes our fairy tale.
The reality is, Gudny is a very hardworking artist. What seems to float in with lightness is the result of hard...
Gudny Gudmundsdottir is a supernatural being from Iceland. Everything she touches becomes part of her fairy world. Her art flies in during the night, from other spheres. This is what you would assume when you meet Gudny in her studio. You can hardly imagine her doing profane labor to create art. So goes our fairy tale.
The reality is, Gudny is a very hardworking artist. What seems to float in with lightness is the result of hard research, experimentation and endless drawings in order to give shape to her ideas. Gudny is in complete unity with her work. One aspect is fragility and airiness, the other, sharp architectural forms.
Her idea of space has drawn her attention to dresses. “In dresses I see a parallel to houses,” Gudny reflects, “clothing is space, interior and exterior.” She works on drawings and water colour paintings thematizing the fall of folds in a dress of Marchesa Cassati from the 1920s. Huge paper cuts show designs for capes.
The predominant colour I can see is blue, in every shade. “That´s my favorite colour to work with”, Gudny explains. ‘‘ For me it is a neutral colour. It does not impose my taste on people. I want to keep it away from my art.”
In 2014 Gudny Gudmundsdottir did an artist residency in Japan. Its as if her work has always had some relationship to Japanese art and working there brought out even more congenial artwork, like the “ink birds” and the little ceramic sculptures on her windowsill.
A very early work Gudny did when she was still at the art academy is a vase with architectural motifs on it. A recent work is a little human sculpture with an architectonic dress. I wonder if this might be the model for a bigger project?
