Ragna Sigurðardóttir

Kling & Bang 2006
Yellow Beans and Graffiti

Art Distribution, Helga Óskarsdóttir
The Social Painting, Kristinn Már Pálmason

11 December 2006, Morgunblaðið – Visual Art, Kling & Bang Gallery

The Yellow Bean: Helga Óskarsdóttir recently presented a unique work at a joint exhibition in the Kling & Bang Gallery, and now once again shows what a clever and imaginative artist she is. Exhibition closed.

Helga Óskarsdóttir exhibited her work Art Distribution in the Kling & Bang Gallery on Reykjavík’s Laugavegur, thereby following in the footsteps of artists who have sought to create their work in public places. In a pamphlet accompanying the exhibition, Jón Proppé discusses Daniel Spoerri’s penchant for giving found objects to friends and relatives. Helga takes a similar track here, except that she creates the artistic object herself, the seed or the bean that visitors receive as a gift to take with them and put down wherever they like. The exhibition incorporated several photographs with examples of where Helga had placed the yellow bean – a bench at a bus stop, next to a street, in a private home. Artists such as Harmen de Hoop from The Netherlands spring to mind, who do not work in galleries but rather on the street. Examples of his work are clothes pegs attached to signs at a bus stop and a screwdriver placed in a telephone booth, an ironic reference to common vandalism. He has been known to place four city garbage bins on the same street corner, to put the sign HOTEL next to steps leading down to the subway, and to set down crates of apples next to free newspapers in train stations. Harmen de Hoop causes pedestrians to think, as does Helga. She has chosen to step outside the limits of a conventional pattern characterised by the purchase and sale of expensive artworks, turns viewers into active participants, causes them to contemplate the nature of art and its place, and to see mundane surroundings in a new light. The yellow colour also works very well in the midwinter darkness, and the yellow bean is highly popular in my home – family members fight over it. Helga Óskarsdóttir recently presented a unique work at a joint exhibition in the Kling & Bang Gallery, and now once again shows what a clever and imaginative artist she is.

Kristinn Már Pálmason exhibited the installation The Social Painting in the basement of the Kling & Bang Gallery. The social painting, as a concept, has been used throughout history to mean paintings that depict social conditions, but in this instance Kristinn used it to refer to a painting created by society. The installation in the Kling & Bang basement consisted of sound – a love poem created by the artist – and a wall piece made of aluminium plates that Kristinn left to the public to decorate with spray paint cans specifically provided for that purpose. By the time I arrived, the paint already covered the aluminium plates and was reminiscent of graffiti. Viewers could then alter and improve the work as the exhibition wore on. The noise inherent in the love poem and the enclosed gallery space created an atmosphere of claustrophobia and strong emotions. Kristinn’s concept is certainly worthwhile, and one wonders whether a suitable place for it wouldn’t be in those neighbourhoods where young people with a need for self-expression find an outlet on walls not intended for such uses.

Both of these exhibitions were along the lines of what has been evident in contemporary art for some time: a longing to connect in a concrete manner with life outside the galleries and museums. Early this year, the Culture and Tourism Council of the City of Reykjavík approached Hafþór Yngvarsson, Director of the Reykjavík Art Museum, with a view to creating a strategic plan for art in public places. An interdisciplinary working group was established, and as the work got underway an interesting symposium on the matter was held at the Reykjavík Art Museum – Harbour House. Since then, nothing has been heard. It would be interesting to know just where these matters stand within the Reykjavík City Council.

Ragna Sigurðardóttir

Translation: Alda Sigmundsdóttir