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). 

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

 

2016 

4 Parts Divided, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

 

2014 

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

 

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

 

2012
The Infinite Day, i8 Gallery, Reykjavik

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2024

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

FuturePast, Ísafjörður Art Museum, Ísafjörður

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

 

2023

Free Verse, Skaftfell Art Center, Seyðisfjörður

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

Birgir Andrésson & Lawrence Weiner, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík

 

2022

STARS DON'T STAND STILL IN THE SKYA Tribute to Lawrence Weiner, Regen Projects, Los Angeles

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

 

2018

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

 

2017

Sequences Art Festival, Reykjavik

List Officinalis, Nesstofa, Seltjarnarnes

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

 

2016

TEXT, the National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
KINGDOM - Flora, Faun, Fable, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

Press
Art Fairs