Anna Rún Tryggvadóttir is an Icelandic visual artist based in Berlin. She has also worked in theatre, designing sets and costumes. Now she has an exhibition in the Reykjavík Art Museum called ‘Garden,’ which will be up and running until January 14. Here are a few of her formative influences.
I was brought up by people that knew how to make things, mend them and make them work. Being repeatedly exposed to other people’s intuitive knowledge of materials gave me confidence and curiosity to find my own ways around making. I believe those lessons in carpentry, knitting, electricity, etc., have today turned into a multidivisional toolkit that I base my art practice on. When it comes to naming artists or artwork that have been influential to me, I get a bit disoriented. There have been so many that have moved me; the list is endless. This is just a fraction of those who have influenced me, and I owe them all my deepest gratitude.
Sólveig Aðalsteinsdóttir – Evaporated Water Colour
Sólveig Aðalsteinsdóttir’s work—in particular, ‘Evaporated Water Color’—was an early influence that triggered a sense of the impermanence of our daily actions, and presents the power involved in exposing materials in a vulnerable state.
Johannes Itten
I saw a retrospective of Johannes’s work a few years ago and was floored by the intention, precision and knowledge that it contained. It’s difficult to translate the experience into words, but I couldn’t move, and tears trickled from my eyes completely involuntarily. I wasn’t sad or happy or overcome by any emotion. It was a moment of purely sensing this work of art. The experience came at a crucial point for me as I was already searching for potentials within my two dimensional watercolor practice. It reinforced my commitment to and confidence in the potential of the medium.
Oskar Schlemmer
Oskar’s weird sculptural bodies have been companions for years. He investigated how bodies move in space, and choreographed masterful scenes of sculptural bodies navigating the cinematic frame. The sculptures and costumes serve as caricatures of the actions they perform. His sense of color is unique, combining opposite and complementary colors in a fluid and intriguing way.
William Forsythe – Line Point Line
This choreographer did a wonderful tutorial illustrating the force of body movements in a sequence called Line Point Line.
Tim Hawkinson – Uberorgan
This installation of a giant functional instrument was made with cheap materials, and a sense of urgency and immediacy, all of which I can relate to Schlemmer, Forsythe and Hawkinson have given me insight into and information about how the movement of bodies of material effect>s and operates in space. This was particularly valuable to me while I was developing an installation practice that depends on movement and processual treatment of materials.
Guo Fengyi’s QuiGong
Guo Fengyi was a self–trained artist who turned to ancient Chinese medicine, and the practice of QuiGong, after severe arthritis. Through her practice she developed visions that she translated into fine ink pen drawings resembling bodies or figures, but abstract overall. It was such a pleasure to meet her work and witness how she managed to make such a direct link to the evasive visual dimension of meditation practice without it becoming banal or dogmatic.
Björk
Björk is an invaluable influence probably for all current female artists, for her ingenious world of eccentric sound and vocals, and for her courageous stand as a female artist who has carved a path for her work and career that is completely unique.
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