How can candies become so meaningful ?
Obviously I have managed to L them and therefore admire their beauty
which is one way of celebrating them as art works
Could it have been something else ?
It can be anything
Do I love everything ?
Unfortunately not, but all things can be loved by different people at different times: enemies, devils, gods and chocolate candies.
When something is being loved it becomes meaningful for those who love it (or like if "love" is to heavy for you), for instance: a collective desire for the new, the nostalgia for the cultural past, flags and nations, art movements, ideologies and gods
Nobody has a free choice when it comes to love
Sigurdur Gudmundsson
Like it is
In Icelandic art, Sigurdur Gudmundsson is not only one of its absolute classics but also a kind of enfant terrible.
Icelandic conceptual art is known for its polished and pure forms, its clear and simple thought, and its refined, subdued elegance. But not Sigurdur Gudmundsson! He is full of energy and brimming with ideas – and he accomplishes them all! Documented and undocumented performances, photographs, drawings, prints, sculpture, installations and even musical compositions… Sigurdur Gudmundsson does not let formalities tie him down, nor technical problems or conventional views about the boundaries of genres in art.
Sigurdur Gudmundsson began his artistic activity in the 1960s, and gradually his varied and at times seemingly cacophonic achievements have grown into an oeuvre that is diverse, but also vigorous, succulent and original.
Gudmundsson is one Iceland’s most international artists, with homes and studios in Holland, Iceland and Sweden, and in the past few years in Xiamen and Beijing in China. He has displayed his works in most countries in Europe and major public works of sculpture have been commissioned from him in the Nordic countries and in Central Europe.
At Galerie Anhava Sigurdur Gudmundsson will display small works of sculpture in granite, bronze, steel and lacquerwork, which he has made in China. All the works have the same theme , "LIKE IT IS", and they replicate the shapes of chocolate candies. They are "just like" candies, only larger, and of course modified according to the requirements of the material. On one hand, these works are humorous – the wrong scale for a truly familiar object seems amusing – and on the other hand they are of irresistible technical refinement. The characteristic features of the materials come into their own in these pieces.
Sigurdur Gudmundsson’s art bears his imprint – that of an extroverted, extremely funny, intelligent and generous man. It raises one’s spirits, sets thoughts in motion and gives pleasure.
Ilona Anhava
