CODHEAD Xl 2015
Exhibition in Akureyri Iceland
Exhibition in Akureyri Iceland
|
Codhead XI 2015 English
19. September to 27. September in The Art Society Gallery in Listagil Akureyri, Iceland Mixed media paintings on paper from 2014 - 2015. I started working on the Codhead idea around 2000. I had moved from the capital to the island of Hrísey in the North. I lived on the outskirts of the village and a few steps away where the dried fish scaffolds where codheads were hung up to dry. Waiting to be sold in Nigeria, the extremely protein rich cod being highly valued there. I made a habit of long walks around the island, often around the scaffolds and dried cod heads had a stronger and stronger effect on me. The expression is so strong, almost intrusive, predator-like cruelty, showing some kind of fascist power, in combination with expression of pitiful suffering rendering a feeling of strong empathy for their lot. Codhead is a world where people wearing suits and ties and cod heads perform a variety of functions in an environment that defines this world. Codhead is a cognate word to Godhead and somehow almost the same word. My art is political, but I am not preaching in any way. The Great Economic Crash in 2008 showed clearly that Iceland was a country plagued with corruption of nepotism and cronyism. The neoliberal „virtues“ of greed-pathetic selfishness and brutal relentlessness paving the way for plutocracy has an influence on me and is reflected in my art. On the other hand, art is, largely emotional and visual experience and there is no room for preaching or universal truth. Love is a feeling like that. We know we feel it, but it eludes precise definitions and explanations are difficult and actually damaging to the experience. It is noteworthy that preaching and command style of art is primarily connected dictatorship. Socialrealism in Soviet art and architecture of Hitler and Mussolini are examples. Also the pedagogic church art of the pre Renaissance, where paintings should teach illiterate people theology and the cherished hierarchy of the spiritual business. Of course, the public understood and interpreted this art their own way and the elite orders for interpretation were often misunderstood in the most useful way available. In this how I approach my art; with an urgent need for the message and on the other hand in a vast space of emotional expression where there is no need for explanations. 2002 I exhibited Codhead for the first time. ““Codhead lll a study for bronze“. Installation at the Art Museum of Akureyri. Another solo exhibition is in Gallery + Akureyri ““Codhead Vl“” 2005. 2006 a group show at the “Factory in Hjalteyri” 2 installations ““Codhead lV“” and ““Codhead ll“. Photographs of the works I have lost. Then in “Populus Tremula Akureyri” 2007. „Codhead VII“. |
Codhead XI 2015
19. september til 27. september í Sýningasal Myndlistafélagsins í Listagilinu á Akureyri Á sýningunni voru málverk unnin með blandaðri tækni á pappír frá 2014 - 2015. Codhed er heimur þar sem jakkafataklætt fólk með bindi og þorskhaus sinnir margvíslegum viðfangsefnum í umhverfi sem skilgreinir heiminn. Codhead er samstofna orðinu Godhead og á einhvern hátt nánast sama orðið. Þorskdómur og guðdómur. Ég hef fengist við Codhead síðan 2000. Þetta er pólitísk list og fjallar að hluta til um heimspeki rándýrsins: Græðgi, eigingirni og miskunnarleysi sem er kjarni nýfrjálshyggjustjórnhátta vesturlanda. Á Íslandi afhjúpaði hrunið 2008 inngróna spillingu íslensks samfélags og meðvirkni á ævintýralega háu stigi. Allt þetta dregur kraft úr samfélögum og ógnar framtíð almennings. Þetta er mér ofarlega í huga. En svo er ég einnig mjög upptekinn af hefðbundnum úrlausnum framsetningar myndlistar á sviði litameðferðar, myndbyggingar og annarrar framsetningartækni. Ég er mjög meðvitaður um að myndlist er að miklum hluta sjónræn og tilfinningaleg upplifun sem gefur ekki rými til predikunar eða framsetningu algildra sanninda. Meðan á sýningunni stendur mun ég vinna að ýmsum verkum sem eru í farvatninu og opnunartíminn ræðst af þeirri vinnu frá um það bil átta á morgnanna og fram á kvöld. Þegar skiltið er úti og ljós í glugga þá er opið Haraldur Ingi Haraldsson er menntaður í myndlist frá Myndlista og handíðaskóla Íslands, Aki Akademie Voor Beeldende Kunst Enchede Holland og Vrije Academie Den Haag Hollandi. |