Although
the Icelandic word for a sculpture - höggmynd-
is too limited to adequately describe the
art of shaping three dimensional materials
into significant structures, it does encapsulate
the traditional attitude to sculpture, e.g.
that it is primarily an image hewn out of
stone, or moulded in clay and subsequently
cast in bronce. This is the kind of skulpture
represented by the city monuments, the "statues
that no one botheres to look at", to
quote a well known Icelandic pop song. However,
for most of the 20th century, a number of
artists have created their works on the premise
that if art is to maintain its creative spark,
it must break off the real or imaginary shackles
of tradition and constantly renew itself through
experimentation. In general, this applies
to all the visual arts, and therefore also
to the art of sculpture. It
has transformed itself both through its relationship
with the exhibition space and the viewer.
Contemporary art often uses a novel formal
language, unusual materials and peculiar dimensions,
and harnesses both space and the attention
of the viewer in hitherto unexpected ways.
The artistic currents that reached Iceland
onwards the end of he seventies and at the
beginning of the Eighties mostly emphasized
the subjective or conceptual content of art,
as well as its independence from traditional
attitudes to materials and space. The choice
of materials was dictated by the idea, instead
of being its prerequisite. One of the artists
subscribing to this artistic credo is Thóra
Sigurdardóttir. Thóra is active
both as painter and sculptor. Her paintings
are traditional in the sense that she applies
paint to canvas, though with a decidedly explorative
attitude to both form and colours. But they
are also unorthodox in that she will paint
on other types of ground, or device wall paintings
in the manner of the installation artist.
Though she has essentially progressed from
painting to sculpture, she is no stranger
to
three-dimensional form. There are many ways
of creating the sensation of three dimensions
on a two dimensional plane. It can of course
be done through traditional perspective, but
also through the interplay of colours, where
one colour will suggest a greater "depth"
than the others. The painter is thus dealing
with space no less than the sculptor, while
the sculptor will also be working in two dimensions.
The relationship between painting and sculpture
is thus both closer and more complex than
the simple plane/space dichotomy would suggest.
In the past few years Thóra has mostly
worked in three dimensions. Her work is mainly
charecterised by the kind of interplay between
linear, formal and spatial values that we
find in some of her paintings, but also by
experiments with a wide range of materials,
some of which are generally not associated
with sculpture. Trough experimentation she
searches for a way of reevaluating the role
of sculpture, in particular its relationship
with the viewer. She uses her formal language
to challenge the conventional view of the
geometrical and the organic as diametric opposites.
Her forms might be organic in nature, but
they are deployed in a geometric manner. Her
materials are not intended to make her sculpture
suggestive of anything beyond itself, in the
way that a traditional bronce sculpture might
represent a figure, instead her materials
have an inherent value in themselves, in that
they refer to the everyday reality which they
spring from. They refer to the context of
our everyday lives, so familiar to us that
we sometimes have a hard time recognising
it. In her use of diverse materials, and in
her formal language combining geometric and
organic traits, Thóra occupies a special
place among the sculptors of her generation.
There are two other features that charecterise
Thóra´s approach to sculpture.
One involves the concept of scale - or rather
its opposite, smallness - the other has to
do with the idea of order or sequence. Her
sculptures frequently consist of a series
of of small units, arranged to coalesce into
a self-sufficient formal structure, essentially
a three- dimensional work of art within an
enclosed space, leading to the formation of
one large sculpture out of a sequence of smaller
units. The sculpture, essentially a three-
dimensional art within an enclosed space,
thus becomes receptive to the perception of
the viewer. Instead of a statue on a base,
occupying a limited space, we are presented
with a piece of sculpture of an unusual shape,
a large and open-form work, consisting of
numerous small closed-form units, yet forming
one, coherent work. Thóra´s experiments
with materials and scale, an important ingredient
of all sculpture, are at the same time
intended to infuse her sculpture with a human
frame of reference, make us aware of the forces
underlying everyday life.
Thóra´s sculptures are experimental
in the sense that they dissect and examine
the inner workings and creative possibilities
of three dimensional structures, especially
their capability to absorb unexpected and
unusual forms and materials. As a consequence
they might challenge the viewer´s sensibilities
and his conventional ideas about
sculpture. But Thóra´s sculptures
are also attempts to forge a new relationship
between the work of art and its audience,
by creating a separate space to enter - in
reality as well as mentally.