Welcome to the exhibition RÓT at Gallerí Kverk. The exhibition is open by appointment during the week and from 12:00-15:00 on Saturdays.
The exhibition contains new work with a focus on meaning, light, ambiguity, perception and understanding. As in Jóna Hlíf’s previous exhibitions, the works form a whole, an installation of sorts in the space. This time around, she works partly with older pieces or connections between them.
The exhibition RÓT came about as a kind of continuation from the works that I exhibited in Mjólkurbúðin, Akureyri, last summer. There, I worked with opposites, colours and glass. It was rather a binary exhibition, but also based on the idea that opposites do not actually exist. RÓT is a logical sequel, or a sister exhibition.
I have worked with various material throughout my career, at present I focus on glass. I also work with colours, primary colours and the connection between colours. How they go together and mix. This is both primitive and fun. For me, the method largely consists of taking the material in a new direction, and this kind of creating and presenting is new to me. This makes multiple ways of processing and directions possible.
Likewise, the infinite possibilities of language are an endless source of ideas, really. The starting point now lies in the image of pairing and ambiguous meaning in the simplest descriptions. I have based work on this before, but this time I wanted to create as many pairings as I could with five and three letter words, just one adjective, one noun. Each pairing should reference something people are familiar with, without it being a particular thing. Previously, I had worked with the pairings Gömul von (Old Hope) and Óljós þrá (Vague Desire). I then let my mind wander to find similar phrases.
To me, meaning and understanding are a certain kind of magic. Most words have images behind them, but the less of an image they contain, the more art I feel is present in them. Perhaps, it is not in the words themselves that the art is born, maybe it comes about in the tension created by their perception.