Strange Familar : Georg Guðni

June 18, 2005 4:52 PM

Georg Guðni is a promising contemporary Icelandic artist. He has recently published a book, Strange Familiar with one of his biggest fans, actor Viggo Mortensen. (A few more images here and here)
posted by grapefruitmoon (15 comments total)

Interesting stuff...when I was 16, my father and I realized I didn't want to go to college right away...so he said, "Leave the country, see something interesting till you know what you want to do."

Nearly went to Iceland...but for some reason decided otherwise...wound up in Munich for 8 years...really changed my life...but I still want to get to Iceland, and these pieces make me want to even more so.
posted by 1016 at 5:22 PM on June 18, 2005

they remind me a bit of hr giger's softer landscapes, and the passages.

tho, i'll grant, much more pleasant and much less tacky.

(i wish i could find better examples for the landscapes; i swear there are some that are very similar)
posted by es_de_bah at 7:10 PM on June 18, 2005

Those are pretty cool, thanks. I bet the originals are impressive. However, there is something kind of scary about them.
posted by marxchivist at 8:21 PM on June 18, 2005

Made me think of some of Rothko's more luminous stuff, but with suggested sod and sky.

This is a reach, but it also reminds me of how Sigur Ros and similar contemporary Icelandic musicians flirt along that edge of representation and abstraction; due to the severe clarity of the landscape, perhaps?
posted by Haruspex at 8:31 PM on June 18, 2005

More icelandic art.
posted by svenni at 9:10 PM on June 18, 2005

i really like these. the last two are like witnessing a rothko coming into focus
posted by Satapher at 2:12 AM on June 19, 2005

I have to respect this post if only because the poster went through the trouble to figure out how to make a "ð." What's that called anyway?

In other news, um, the word "Viggo" sounds funny.
posted by JHarris at 2:50 AM on June 19, 2005

Fantastic, grapefruitmoon. I'd love to see these in person.
posted by taz at 3:24 AM on June 19, 2005

Oh, I forgot to say that there a picture of the artist here, and if you click on the little button thingy, you can see some images too.
posted by taz at 3:31 AM on June 19, 2005

JHarris : That letter is called "eth" - and it's really no trouble to make one, I have my computer set up to switch back and forth between American and Icelandic keyboards since I live in Iceland and thus type Icelandic characters on a fairly regular basis.

ðððððððððððððððððð!

also -

þþþþþþþþþþþþþþ!
posted by grapefruitmoon at 4:40 AM on June 19, 2005

My eth-like character sux: d
posted by kenko at 11:47 AM on June 19, 2005

oops. d. ð? You know, it worked on preview.
posted by kenko at 11:48 AM on June 19, 2005

gorgeous stuff. (I sat next to an Icelandic artist ages ago on IcelandAir--she had stocked up on supplies, and had enormous trouble getting them onboard (and this was pre-9/11), so she just whined about the security people all the way to Reykjavik.) : >
posted by amberglow at 1:12 PM on June 19, 2005

(i think it was that one i linked to--i only have her scrawled last name in a travel diary--it could be another "....dottir" tho.)
posted by amberglow at 1:15 PM on June 19, 2005

Amberglow : They're all dóttir... I think you were kidding anyway, but that's how the naming system works around here. :)
posted by grapefruitmoon at 3:55 PM on June 19, 2005