Guðrún Kristjáns­dóttir: Traces

Guðrún has carved out a unique place in Icelandic art with works that explore the relationship between nature and man, shaped by the weather and light in Iceland. She approaches nature as a living force, where stillness and power meet and unexpected beauty emerges in humble moments.

Guðrún's work reflects a constant search for balance and captures both the small and the vast in the landscape. In her paintings, nature appears as an ever-changing process where transformation and movement are in constant collaboration. By connecting different materials and methods – videos, light, reflections, rhymes and music – a place and time is created where perception itself becomes part of the work. In recent years, she has worked with materials from the environment – ​​rocks, minerals and coal (surtabrandur) – and created works that carry with them the legacy of geological history. The exhibition spans works from Guðrún's decades-long career and provides a comprehensive picture of the artist's tireless interest in capturing our experience of nature - from tiny drops of water to misty mountain peaks, the blue of the distance and light that changes at every moment. The exhibition connects nature, perception, and time, evoking an experience that is both visual and emotional – a moment to pause and feel connected to the environment.

A short bio of the artist: Guðrún Kristjánsdóttir was born in 1950 and studied art at the École des Beaux-Arts in Aix-en-Provence, France. She held her first solo exhibition in Kjarvalsstaðir in 1986 and has since exhibited widely, both in Iceland and abroad, including in Europe, the United States and Asia. Guðrún has worked as an artist for over four decades and also as a curator, editor and lecturer. She lives and works in Reykjavík and at Hlöðuberg on Skarðsströnd. The exhibition Traces springs from the book Bláleiðir, which Guðrún wrote together with Oddný Eir Ævarsdóttir and Snæfríð Þorsteinsdóttir, based on the artist's life's work.