ABOUT THE PROJECT

Týsgallerí has gathered thirteen artists to produce the prints in this collection. The group includes seasoned artists – two of them have represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale – as well as others who have only recently completed their studies. This grouping reflects the core vision behind the gallery: that through collaboration and open communication art can jump the generational gap and mediate ideas in such a way that the work of each one can contribute to the creative process of others while still fostering individual development. This vision has been the primary strength of the Icelandic art scene for the past decades, nurtured through artist-run galleries, exhibitions and publications.

Such projects also open a channel of communication to the wider public: young Icelandic artists have not waited for museum and collectors to discover them and publicise their work but have instead formed a direct alliance with those who seek and love to enjoy art. This was perhaps why so many artists turned to printmaking in the early 1970s. Through prints, artists could present their work to a much wider public and allow more people to acquire art and enjoy it at home as a part of their daily life. Printmaking is an open and democratic medium.

When this technique was first established in the West in the fifteenth century it triggered a revolution in the mediation of visual material, no less important than the development of moveable print. Most people had never seen art except in church but suddenly it was to be seen everywhere. Art no longer reflected only the tastes of the bishops and nobility; it spoke directly to the public and spoke of things that mattered to ordinary people.

Similarly, in Iceland in the 1970s, printmaking served to spread ideas and concerns that were topical: the struggle for gender equality, democracy and the right of common people to have a say in society and culture. Art has little effect if it is not seen. Art is primarily a form of dialogue and we all need it because in art so much can be expressed that we cannot easily convey through words.

Text by Jón Proppé

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Monarch

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