Guðmundur Thoroddsen

Guðmundur Thoroddsen is from Reykjavik, Iceland, where he currently lives and works.  His current abstract paintings use the rich earthy tones of the Icelandic landscape, patches of color hinting at sprawling space. The Rorschach-like paintings segue back and forth from micro to macro, and fungus or rot simultaneously appear as precipice, gorge or stream. The artist’s hand, present but also not, coaxes into light imagery that exists in our collective subconscious, but by rendering it unfamiliar he leaves us unsure as to whether we are seeing rhapsodies in abstraction, barren environs, or the micro worlds of lichen-esque growths. People are banished, and only the viewer occupies the paintings and subjects them to human regulation. Previous series featured paintings with anthropomorphized cartoonish dogs camouflaged in their surroundings, and narrative works on paper where ambiguously ancient bearded figures while away the time in a pre-apocalyptic bacchanal, a humorous vision of contemporary masculinity in ideological disarray. Thoroddsen has used a variety of materials including ink, collage, carved and painted wood, marble, excrement, ceramic, and gold leaf.

After studies in Iceland, Holland, Berlin, and Granada, Thoroddsen completed his MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include Thula Gallery, Reykjavik; Hverfisgallerí, Reykjavík; The Hafnarborg Museum, Hafnarfjördur; The Reykjavík Art Museum; Harbinger Gallerí, Reykjavik; Hverfisgallerí, Reykjavik; and Tysgalleri, Reykjavik. Group exhibitions include the Reykjavík Art Museum; Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen; The Akureyri Art Museum; The Knockdown Center, New York; Quartair, The Hague; Ausstellungsraum, Basel; DODGE Gallery, New York; Kling and Bang Gallery, Reykjavik; and Danziger Gallery, Berlin. Press includes The New York Times, Hyperallergic, The Icelandic Times, Time Out New York, Art F City, Whitehot Magazine, Elephant, New York Magazine, Art Observed, Art Zine, The Icelandic Times, and Twin Magazine, and his work appears in the 2011 publication "Icelandic Art History from late 19th Century to Early 21st Century”. He participated in Fallingwater Residency, Mill Run, PA, and the Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL, and is the recipient of multiple artist grants from the Icelandic Art Center, Myndstef, Ministry of Cultural Affairs, Iceland, and was a finalist for the 2019 Icelandic Art Prize. He was nominated for the ArtPrize Top 2D Award for his SiTE:LAB show in Grand Rapids, MI.