Overview

Finding subjects in his closest surroundings, Birgir Andrésson explored history and memory, as well as the spoken and written word throughout his practice. Andrésson’s interest in methods of communication was heightened by growing up as a sighted person with blind parents in a home for the visually impaired. The reliance on the spoken word in Andrésson’s life created a heightened response to language and its descriptive powers. In addition to language, elements of humour, as well as national and personal identity, are important to his practice.

 

Birgir Andrésson (b. 1955, d. 2007) lived and worked in Reykjavik, Iceland. His work was the subject of a major retrospective at the Reykjavik Art Museum in 2022. In addition to representing Iceland at the Venice Biennale in 1995, the artist had solo exhibitions at venues including The National Gallery of Iceland (2006); Kunsthaus Pasquart, Switzerland (1991); and Stadtgalerie Bern, Switzerland (1997). 

Featured
Works
Exhibitions
Public Exhibitions
Biography

b. 1955, d. 2007

Born in the Westman Islands, Iceland

Lived and worked in Reykjavik 

 

EDUCATION

 

1978-79 Jan van Eyck Akademie, Maastricht, The Netherlands

1973-77 Icelandic College of Arts & Crafts, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2022

As Far as the Eye Can See, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland

 

2016 

4 Parts Divided, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland

 

2014 

The Northernmost North, Edinburgh Art Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
Tölt, The Nordic House, Reykjavík, Iceland

 

2013
Tölt, Nordic Embassy, Berlin, Germany
Tölt, Kulturhaus Karlshorst, Berlin, Germany

 

2012
The Infinite Day, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2024

Looking Inward, Looking Outward: 140 years of the National Gallery of Iceland, National Gallery of Iceland, Iceland

FuturePast, Ísafjörður Art Museum, Ísafjörður, Iceland

For What It's Worth: Value Systems in Art since 1960, The Warehouse, Dallas, USA 

 

2023

Free Verse, Skaftfell Art Center, Seyðisfjörður, Iceland

Kaleidoscope: Icelandic 21st Century Art, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland

Birgir Andrésson & Lawrence Weiner, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

 

2022

STARS DON´T STAND STILL IN THE SKYA Tribute to Lawrence Weiner, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, USA

Sea Lava Circle: Works from the Pétur Arason and Ragna Róbertsdóttir Collection, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik 

 

2021

Birgir Andrésson, B. Ingrid Olson, Ragna Róbertsdóttir, i8 Gallery at No.9 Cork Street, London

 

2019 

Wunderkammer, Nils Stærk, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

2018

High & Low - Icelandic Contemporary Art, at Nordatlantens Brygge, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

2017

Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavik, Iceland

List Officinalis, Nesstofa, Seltjarnarnes, Iceland

Other Hats: Icelandic Printmaking, The International Print Centre, New York, USA; National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

2016

TEXT, Lisasafn Islands, Reykjavik, Iceland
KINGDOM - Flora, Faun, Fable, Reykjavik Art Museum, Iceland

 

2014
Iceland: Artists Respond to Place, Scandinavia House, New York, NY, USA
Iceland: Artists Respond to Place, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY, USA

 

2013
Works on Paper, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
The Unpredictables, Norman Foster et l'art contemporain, Carré d'art - Musée dárt Contemporain de Nimes, Nimes, France
Elemental, Boden Arts Center, Boden, Sweden
Magnetic North, Ratio 3, San Francisco, USA

 

2012
Air de Pied-à-terre, Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York, USA
Dissecting Nature, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, CA, USA

 

 

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