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| Finnur Arnar Arnarson |
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The narrative plays an important role in Finnur's art although he seldom relates the story himself. In his works we often find traces of people, records of events that few would find the need to tell about. These things are mundane and taken for granted, a part and parcel of our daily toil and turmoil - shopping, working, day-dreaming. The moment is frozen, someone has just left or is about to enter; perhaps that person just went to the toilet and left his belongings unattended for a moment. But no matter how forceful the presence of the story's character may be, nothing more happens - not on this stage. What comes next or has previously taken place transpires in the mind of the viewer, who has all the time in the world to create his own character in line with the situation.
The narrator has not discovered the perfect form but he is constantly searching for a new angle. Sometimes he is poetic and dreamy, sometimes sarcastic. Some works are warm and intimate, and yet in others his approach to the subject seems aloof and academic. Life has so many facets and the individual can be illuminated in so many ways. The information attached to the average pay-cheque, for example, can give us a certain picture of the wage-earner - what he does for a living, how much money he has to spend and how much or little time he must devote to his job. The viewer can speculate, for instance, whether any time at all is left for private life or hobbies. A simple résumé may offer various details about the individual. But a much more personal storyline emerges through a Curriculum Vitae, where the individual has listed the most important events in his life or described his most cherished plans for the future.
A critical sociological awareness informs in fact most of Finnur's work, though it may not always be evident. The ones that are perhaps most politically overt tend to be loaded with irony. The artist fishes out the absurdities and inconsistencies that saturates everyone's life. We have succumbed to the demands of consumerism and the post-modern life-style and have no means of carrying out the ideology of simpler and more beautiful human existence, which fascinates so many of us. The conflict takes the shape of a double edged sword. We adorn ourselves with unshakeable principles and have no qualms about voicing our opinions when it suits us, yet in between those heartfelt proclamations we faithfully serve the enemy by jumping into the rat-race. Despite the clear message of some of the works the artist is not preaching to the rest of us. After all, he is a participant in the Great Race - using his blood money to buy extra-absorbent paper diapers for his kids, then parks the family car and marches along the accepted routes under other people's flag of convenience on a sunny afternoon.
Áslaug Thorlacius
(Transl. HS)
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Er skemmtilegra að mála glugga eða grafa skurð ef maður er listamaður?
Is it More Fun Painting a Window or Digging a Hole as an Artist? |
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Gömlu góðu dagarnir
Good Old Days |
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Er ekki hversdagleikinn dásamlegur
Isn't Everyday Wonderful? |
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Skrapp upp
Went up - Back in a Moment |
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Fuck the system
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Back in a Moment
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Skrapp fram - fangaklefi nr. 4
Prison Cell No. 4 - Back in a Moment |
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Getur heil þjóð orðið af aurum api?
The National Anthem |
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Internasjónalinn
The Internationale |
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Hugsjón
Ideals |
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Óskabarn þjóðarinnar
The National Hero of Independence |
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