Art driven by passion

Ástríðulist (Art driven by passion) is a group exhibition bringing together a large number of trained and amateur artists whose shared feature is that they are driven to their art by a passionate sincerity. The exhibition highlights the variety, creative joy, freedom and originality of their view of life and art. The works are characterized by a great deal of colour and spontaneity, spanning the categories of folk art, outsiders’ art, naïve art and contemporary art.

The post-moderninst melting pot contains all sorts of expressive styles that can be traced back to formal art history and tradition and also to folk art, including handicrafts, carving and ephemeral forms, cartoons, graffiti and street art. Young artists with formal training behind them have no hesitation about drawing on these resources, making stylistic categorization and analysis of all these currents continually more difficult.

In choosing works for the exhibition, the curators, Þorbjörg Br. Gunnarsdóttir and Þórunn Elísabet Sveinsdóttir, were guided by the principle that the works should demonstrate the artists’ creative urge, joy and personal approach to the subject.  The exhibits span a wide range: murals, sculptures, textiles and installations, and come from many different places: the Collection Museum on Svalbarðsströnd, the Akureyri Art Gallery, the Reykjavík Art Gallery, Hafnarborg and Sólheimar, private collections and in some cases direct from the artists who have produced new works or installations specially for the occasion.

The artists:
Bragi Sigurgeirsson •  Björn Guðmundsson • Eggert Magnússon • Einar Baldursson • Elín S.M. Ólafsdóttir • Friðrik Hansen • Frosti Friðriksson Gunnar Einarsson • Hafþór Ragnar Þórhallsson • Halldóra Kristinsdóttir • Helga Dómhildur Alfreðsdóttir • Helgi Björnsson • Hildur Kristín Jakobsdóttir • Hugleikur Dagsson • Ilmur Stefánsdóttir • Ísak Óli Sævarsson • Kata saumakona Norðanbál • Ragnar Hermannsson • Sara Björnsdóttir • Sigrún Gísladóttir Sigurður Sveinsson • Sigurlaug Jónasdóttir • Svava Skúladóttir • Þorsteinn Díómedesson

Curators:
Þorbjörg Brynhildur Gunnarsdóttir and Þórunn Elísabet Sveinsdóttir.