Fine Art research Steinunn Thorarinsdottir

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir was born in Iceland in 1955. She studied in England and Italy from 1974-1980 before moving back to Iceland. Thorarinsdottir is living and working in Reykjavik now. She has done many commissions both for specific indoor spaces as well as outdoor works and monuments.

Thorarinsdottir uses many different materials to create her artworks including cast iron, aluminium, plaster, glass and concrete, with each material creating a different feel to each individual work. The sculptures seem rooted in chilly and wind swept Iceland, where they emanate from deep down in the volatile, volcanic substrata of her own country. Thorarinsdottir's works can be seen all over the world in different contexts and locations.

Thorarinsdottir focus on the theme of the human condition in all its complexity. The human figure has been the measure of all things in art from the beginning of history. In the shadow of art history, it takes considerable courage to select the path of figuration in our times and present something new, something personal, something in which others may feel the intensity of expression on their own in a new and surprising way. Thórarinsdóttir exhibits this to the world in all their complex nature and yet through an almost spartan simplicity of materials.

Thorarinsdottir refers to her figures as being beside our world and that they are symbols of humanity, but different. Mostly, Thorarinsdottir's figures are asexual, be they whole or ‘broken’ with each one created with their eyes closed and missing their ears. They seem to give off a feeling of loneliness, isolation, sadness and an inability to acknowledge what's around them. Despite this they also seem to be lost in thought, but they do not share their inner life with the audience; they maintain a very human privacy of emotion that we both feel bound to honour and align ourselves. Perhaps they are trying to communicate with each other in a way we cant hear or see, as if they are not really part of our reality, or we a part of theirs. Thorarinsdottir wishes them to be seen as human, as they also age like people. Metals like aluminium become less shiny and the rust becomes deeper. Thorarinsdottir has a distinct way of utilising spatial qualities. In her life-sized works, you cannot help but be aware of the fact that the sculpture occupies the same space as you the viewer.