My Mission

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by art, history, and traditions. As a young teenager, I dreamt of becoming a Renaissance man and immersed myself in the works of the old masters. I found inspiration in the tortured soul of Van Gogh and his creative, yet tragic, life. In Ilya Repin, I saw how the human soul could be captured in brushstrokes, and how history can take centuries to find its voice. I learned that through relentless curiosity and a pursuit of truth and beauty, the essence of the human experience can be captured on canvas. I discovered the 19th-century history painters, biblical painters, and Pre-Raphaelites who were painting scenes and events from history and legend, dating back hundreds of years. These painters remain my greatest inspiration to this day. These ideas shaped me profoundly as a young man and continue to play a significant part in my spiritual and artistic formation to this day.

My dream extended far beyond painting, encompassing music, writing, poetry, woodworking, sculpture, the culinary arts, and filmmaking. I pursued these interests to varying degrees, both personally and professionally, eventually studying filmmaking and gaining some training in cabinetmaking. In some ways, my dream has come true, though not without its share of bumps along a winding road. A road that eventually led me back to painting, my true passion, after years of neglecting it.

Through my many interests and deep dives into history, I’ve come to feel that my own culture and country are lacking in certain respects. The history of Icelandic art, particularly painting, is relatively short. Painting only really began to take hold towards the end of the 19th century, with Icelandic art moving almost immediately into modernism in the early 20th century, following centuries in which the tradition of painting had remained limited.

Some argue that the Protestant Reformation played a part in dismantling the Catholic cultural and creative landscape that had existed in Iceland during the Middle Ages. Others rightly point to the limited access to materials and education, as well as the harsh conditions of survival in Iceland, which left little room for the pursuit of fine art. I won’t explore these explanations in depth here, as they deserve an article of their own. Nor do I wish to diminish the artistic traditions Iceland did possess beyond painting, which have their own merits and rich heritage. My focus, however, is on traditional oil painting.

What Iceland does possess is a treasure trove of stories and history that has rarely been toldvin length through visual art. Stories of heroes, unfortunate souls, family feuds, survival, adventure, and a national identity under siege. I intend to honour my heritage by helping bridge this gap in visual storytelling, bringing these stories to life so that they may endure and inspire future generations to connect with their past and the people whose lives and struggles brought us to where we are today.

For these stories and these people are not merely relics of a distant age. They live on within us all, and it is our duty to remember them.