Overview

In Sigurður Guðmundsson’s works, absurdity and occasional comedy shift into a mood of melancholy and a flight from life on earth as we know it. During his career, he has expressed himself in most media, including photography, text, sculpture, painting, and performance. Guðmundsson studied at the Academie 63 in Haarlem, Netherlands and later moved to Amsterdam, introducing Icelandic art to the Amsterdam art scene through his involvement with the SÚM movement. 

 

Sigurður Guðmundsson (b. 1942, Iceland) lives and works between Xiamen, Amsterdam, and Reykjavik. Recent exhibitions include the LÁ Art Museum, Hveragerði, Iceland (2022); Bræðslan, Djúpivogur, Iceland (2021); Reykjavik Art Museum (2019); Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, China (2019); The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik (2018); National Gallery of Iceland (2016); Reykjavik Art Museum (2014); Galerie Van Gelder, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2013), and Moderna Museet, Malmö, Sweden (2011).

Works
Video
Exhibitions
Public Exhibitions
Biography

b. 1942 in Reykjavik

Lives and works in Xiamen, Amsterdam and Reykjavik

 

EDUCATION

 

1963-1964         

Academie ’63, Haarlem, The Netherlands

 

1960-1963         

Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts, Reykjavik

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

2021

The Universe is a Poem, Bræðslan, Djúpivogur, Iceland


2020
Journey of Being, hunt kastner, Prague, Czech Republic

2019

Sculptural PoemsGalleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm, Sweden

Skúlptúr of nánd / Intimacy and Sculpture, The Reykjavik Art Museum - Ásmundarsafn, Reykjavik, Iceland

Eight Poems, CEAC / Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen, China

 

2017
Sigurður Guðmundsson, Arion Banki (Headquarters), Reykjavík, Iceland

 

2016

4 Parts Divided, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland

 

2015

Untitled Meanings, Levant Art Gallery, Shanghai, China

 

2013

Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Galerie Van Gelder, Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

2012    

Petite Retro, Galerie Martine et Thibault de la Châtre, France

Situations, Museum Sønderjylland, Tønder, Denmark

Untitled Music, Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen City, China

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

 

2023

hvað var - hvað er  - hvað verður? ARS LONGA, Djúpivogur, Iceland 

 

2022

Staged Moments, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik

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

Are you glad if you can ask something?, LÁ Art Museum, Hveragerði, Iceland

 

2019

Nordic Impressions - Contemporary Art from Åland, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden,  ASF + Scandinavia House, New York, USA

Eccentric Abstraction, Moderne Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

Mind the GapMeinblau Projektraum, Berlin, Germany

 

2018

Pressure of the Deep, Nýlistasafnið - The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

From Iceland/Frá ÍslandiKEG-Expo gallery, Schijndel, Netherlands

 

2017
The Transported Man, Eli and Adythe Broad Art Museum at MSU, Michigan, USA
Rolling Snowball / 9, Djúpivogur, Iceland

 

2016

Behold the Man – 100 years, 100 faces, Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, Holland

TEXT, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

Lightpaint, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

I Prefer Life (From the Reydan Weiss Collection), Weserburg Museum für modern Kunst, Bremen, Germany

 

2015

My first summer in the Sierra – Works from the Centre national des arts plastiques, Frac île-de-france - Château de Rentilly, Paris, France

 

2014

Pushing Reality, Grundemark Nilsson Gallery, Berlin, Germany

Absurde, vous avez dit absurde?, Les filles du calvaire, Paris, France

Your Compound View, Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

Rolling Snowball 5, Chinese European Art Center, Djúpivogur, Iceland

SAGA (Island – Kunst and Narration), Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen, Germany

Næturvarp/Video Knight, Slíjm, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

2013     

En Thulé froiduleuse, aspects de la scène artistique islandaise contemporaine at the Maison d'Art Bernard Anthonioz, Nogent-sur-Marne, France

Drawing is Thinking, Thinking is Moving, Chinese European Art Center, Xiamen City, China

 

2012    

Hangman´s Rock – The Delirium of Vision, Reykjavík Art Museum - Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavík, Iceland

The Imminence of Poetics, Thirtieth Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil

Nautn og notagildi, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerdi, Iceland

Fragments of Unspoken Thoughts, Galerija Jakopič, Lubljana, Slovenia

Ends of the Earth – Land Art to 1974, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany

Ends of the Earth – Land Art to 1974, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, USA

Rolling Snowball 3, Redtory Art & Design Factory, Guangzhou, China

Minning um Myndlist, ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavik, Iceland

 

AWARDS

 

1989                  

Hendrik-Steffens Prize, Stiftung F.V.S. zu Hamburg, Germany

 

1987-1988        

DAAD grant, Berlin

 

1978-1986        

Teacher at the Academie voor Kunst en Industrie, Enschede, The Netherlands

 

1985                 

Prince Eugen medal, Sweden

 

1978    

Co-Founder of The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik

 

1972    

Co-Founder of In-Out Center, Amsterdam

 

1970-1971        

Ateliers '63, Haarlem, The Netherlands

 

1969    

Co-Founder of Gallerí Súm, Reykjavik

Art Fairs