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In 1931 the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tamizaki wrote in his essay on oriental aesthetics In Praise Of Shadows:
“We orientals tend to seek satisfaction in whatever surroundings we happen to find ourselves in, to content ourselves with things as they are, and so darkness causes us no discontent, we resign ourselves to it as inevitable. If light is scarce then light is scarce; we will immerse ourselves in the darkness and there discover its own particular beauty.”
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With his show Crumpled Darkness Haraldur Jonsson draws on another cultural background, that of his native Iceland, which through its unavoidable exposure to prolonged periods of darkness has developed a unique and enigmatic sensibility. In a previous work Haraldur dispatched a ‘Sealed box of Icelandic Darkness’ to an exhibition in the US.
In Ard Bia his central installation of crumpled black paper suggests not only the intransigence of the colour and its capacity to stimulate a process of internalization, but its rich and baroque sensuality.
Stubborn individuality and baroque flourishes are indeed qualities much associated with contemporary Icelandic Art - as seen in our previous exhibition with the Icelandic Love Corporation.
Haraldur’s paper with its geological fjord-like folds are for him about “the palpability of darkness but also refer to psychological crevices”.
Haraldur is a poet as well as an artist and in his other work for this exhibition we see him explore ‘perception’ as a mediation between language and emotion. His interest in perception and emotion is a poetic one, refusing to accept the norms of psychological convention. His “psychosomatic” ‘Allergic Hypersensitivity’ drawings and his sculptural work display an idiosyncratic take on these terms - he emphasizes the visceral flow between idea/emotion and form rather than any scientific one.
In ‘Room’, his sound installation consisting of a 7 year old boy reading a list of emotions, he enters into artistic terrain previously occupied in different ways by Bruce Nauman and James Coleman.
Haraldur’s work explores theories of emotion and expressivity, in the words of Icelandic critic Jon Proppe; “vague thoughts and associations that escape our taxonomies, the lines that never quite meet, and the thoughts that have no obvious expression”.
There will also be a new video piece and a piece using the gallery window as a frame which will be a personal response by the artist to the gallery location and Galway.
Ard Bia presents Crumpled Darkness, Haraldur Jonsson’s multi-media exhibition as part of its ongoing curatorial policy of sourcing challenging artists from the international artistic community for its gallery and as a continuation of its close ongoing relationship with Icelandic artists in particular.
Haraldur Jonsson has previously shown in Berlin, New York, France, Holland, Romania and Sweden. Ard Bia Gallery is delighted to add Galway to this list.
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Ardbia Gallery,
4 William Street West, Galway, Ireland.
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t : 00353 87 2368648 / 00353 91 516630
email us
w: www.ardbia.com
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gallery opening hours:
Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm
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