Kristján Guðmundsson

Olympic Drawing – Women's Weightlifting, 2012
graphite, mixed media
24 x 130 cm, weights

KRISTJÁN GUDMUNDSSON (1941–2025) is one of the pioneers of Icelandic conceptual art, a genre of art characterised by intelligence, rigour, lyricism and humour. He is an artist of a pure and concise visual language of his own devising. Gudmundsson’s works are always of highly reduced form. The artist’s critical attitude and gaze have removed everything that is superfluous, simplifying things, leaving in view only that which is necessary, and enough. Gudmundsson works in an area in which tensions are created when the non-existent gains existence. The content of his works poses intellectual challenges, addressing the most diverse problems of science, art and human life. He is able to combine in a fascinating way seemingly incommensurate things. Colour may turn into verbal expression, time can become visual, and mathematical series of numbers can tell of physical and spiritual pleasure.

Gudmundsson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale in 1982. In 1993 he received the Prince Eugen Medal from the King of Sweden, and the Carnegie Art Award in 2010. Works by Gudmundsson are included in the collections of the following museums, among others: the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam; Moderna Museet in Stockholm; Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany; Magasin 3, Stockholm; and the Frankel Foundation, Michigan. 

Olympic Drawing – Men's Triple Jump, 2016
graphite, mixed media
24 x 130 cm, take off board

Olympic Drawing Men's Ice Hockey, 2016
graphite
24 x 130 cm, ice hockey goal

Olympic Drawing – Women's Weightlifting, 2012
graphite, mixed media
24 x 130 cm, weights

Olympic Drawings
30 Sep - 23 Oct 2016
exhibition view at Galerie Anhava

Drawing in Round Frame II, 2015
graphite plexiglass in a box
20 x 20 x 2 cm
edition of 20 + 6 AP

Punktar / Periods ‘’2,1972-2011
blackboard paint on cardboard
61,7 x 56,8 cm
edition 1/2 AP in edition of 8 + 2 AP

A4 Sound Absorber, 2009
enamel on steel
21 x 29,5 cm
edition 10

White Painting in Silvery Frame, 2010
acrylic on canvas, enamel on steel
120 x 20 x 4,2 cm

Drawing Nr 20, 2005
0,7mm pencil on aluminium
18 x 36 cm
edition 8

2 x 12 Equal Thin Lines, 1974
ink on blotting paper
2 x 6,6 x 57,5 cm

Faster and Slower Lines No 1, 1975
ink on blotting paper
18 x 58 cm

BioCVExhibitions

Exhibitions

Bio

KRISTJÁN GUDMUNDSSON (born 1941) is one of the pioneers of Icelandic conceptual art, which is well-known and highly regarded among all admirers of this genre. Conceptual art emerged in Iceland around the turn of the 1960s and 1970s within the circle of the young artists who had founded the Súm gallery in Reykjavik. This genre of art is characterised by intelligence, rigour, lyricism and humour. It is contemplative, restrained and perceptive, refusing to accept things as given and self-evident. The world and its phenomena are enigmas to which only art can offer precise, detailed and comprehensive answers.

Kristján Gudmundsson’s works are always of highly reduced form. The artist’s critical attitude and gaze have removed everything that is superfluous, simplifying things, leaving in view only that which is necessary, and enough. Gudmundsson works in an area in which tensions are created when the non-existent gains existence.

The content of Gudmundsson’s works poses intellectual challenges, addressing the most diverse problems of science, art and human life. He is able to combine in a fascinating way seemingly incommensurate things. Colour may turn into verbal expression, time can become visual, and mathematical series of numbers can tell of physical and spiritual pleasure. Gudmundsson’s works stimulate the intelligent viewer and offer deep satisfaction to the aesthetically inclined, while their refined humour appeals to some and yet others enjoy their absolute nature similar to mathematical expressions.

Kristján Gudmundsson has addressed the notion of drawing for decades. He has shot supersonic drawings, worked sculpturally with graphite, or pencil lead, created monumental drawings from giant rolls of paper and sheets of graphite, and glued pencil lead to walls to make almost immaterial sculptural drawings.

His drawings can combine sculptural bars of graphite attached to the wall, i.e. three-dimensional drawings, with sports equipment of various kinds: an ice-hockey goal, a shot-put ball, a sprinter’s starting blocks. The pieces are heroically comical, crystallising knowledge of how millions upon millions of people all over the world gather in front of their television sets when an athlete prepares for a contest where winning and losing can hinge upon a hundredth of a second or a micrometre. Sports join together people of the most diverse kind, separating them from those who couldn’t care less about them.

Graphite is a wonderful material of nuanced and multi-hued colour that changes with light. Its porosity allows it to pick up light in a beautiful way, appearing to breathe. The sheen of graphite in turn reflects light, underlining the volume and sculptural nature of a solid. When this basic material of art is put together with brightly coloured industrially manufactured sports equipment, the combination is both solemn and amusing at the same time.

CV

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K R I S T J Á N  G U Ð M U N D S S O N

Born 1941 in Snæfellsnes
Lives and works in Reykjavík

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2016
    • Olympic Drawings, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 2015
    • Rappaz Museum, Basel
    • i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
    • Marc Straus, New York
  • 2014
    • Tourist Poems & Olympic Drawings, Gallery Gamma, Reykjavík
    • Exhibition Seconds, Skúrinn, Reykjavik
    • Faster and Slower and Cause and Consequence, Safn Berlin
  • 2013
    • Dessins et Dessins Olympiques, Galerie Martine et Thibault de La Châtre, Paris
  • 2011
    • i8 Gallery, Reykjavik
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 2010
    • Paintings in Gray and White Frames, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Paintings and Drawings, Galleri Riis, Oslo
    • Paintings in Grey and White Frames, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California
    • Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm
    • Drawings I-XV, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 2009
    • National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík
  • 2007
    • Drawings I-XV & Other Works, Safni, Reykjavik
  • 2006
    • Blue Transmission, Galleri Riis, Oslo
  • 2005
    • Grey and Red with Yellow, Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • New Works, Galleri Stefan Andersson, Umea
  • 2004
    • Arkitektur, i8, Reykjavík
    • Stökkbreyting í þögn/Mutation in silence, Galleri Skuggi, Reykjavík
    • Ný verk, Listasafn Árnesinga, Hveragerdi
    • Drawings, Sleeper Gallery, Edinburgh
  • 2003
    • Slunkaríki, ísafjördur
    • AP Galerie, Amsterdam
    • Kompan, Akureyri
  • 2002
    • Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin
    • Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
  • 2001
    • Kjarvalsstadir, Municipal Art Museum, Reykjavik
  • 2000
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 1999
    • Galleri i8, Reykjavik
    • Galleri Riis, Oslo
    • Slunkaríki, Isafjördur
  • 1998
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
  • 1997
    • Galleri Ingolfsstraeti 8, Reykjavík
    • Galleri Gulp, Reykjavík
  • 1996
    • Galleri Saevar Karl, Reykjavík
    • Galleri Stefan Andersson, Umeå
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Galleri Hulda Ágústdóttir, Reykjavík
  • 1995
    • Slunkaríki, Ísafjördur
  • 1994
    • Galleri F 15, Moss
    • Rooseum, Malmö (retrospective)
    • Albrecht Dürer Gesellschaft & Institut für Moderne Kunst, Nürnberg
    • Gallerí Sævar Karl, Reykjavik
  • 1993
    • Galleri Riis, Oslo
    • Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam
    • Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
    • Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock (retrospective)
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 1992
    • Galerie Anhava, Helsinki
    • Galerie Miller-Nordenhake, Stockholm
    • Galleri II, Reykjavik
    • Galleri Gangur, Reykjavik
  • 1991
    • Galerie Martina Detterer, Frankfurt a.M.
    • Slunkariki, Isafjördur
    • Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm
    • Galerie Dörrie*Priess, Hamburg
    • Gallerí Krókur, Reykjavik
  • 1989
    • Teikningar/drawings 1972-88, Kjarvalsstadir, Reykjavik
    • Galleri Riis, Oslo
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 1988
    • Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm
  • 1987
    • Slunkaríki, Ísafjördur
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • Drawings and Sculpture, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavík
    • Kristján Guðmundsson/Andrea Tippel, Boekie Woekie, Amsterdam
  • 1986
    • Galerie “A”, Amsterdam
    • American Scandinavian Foundation, New York
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 1985
    • Gallerí Guðmundar Árnasonar, Reykjavik
  • 1983
    • ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavík
  • 1982
    • The Red House, Akureyri
  • 1981
    • Safnahúsid, Húsavík
    • Ráðhúsið, Dalvik
  • 1978
    • Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
    • Library of Ísafjördur, Ísafjördur
  • 1975
    • Seriaal, Amsterdam
    • Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
    • Paleis voor Schone kunst, Brussel
    • Kunstmuseum, Luzern
  • 1974
    • IN-OUT-CENTER, Amsterdam
  • 1973
    • Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
    • IN-OUT-CENTER, Amsterdam
  • 1972
    • Galerie 845, Amsterdam
    • Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
    • Galerie 845, Amsterdam
    • Galerie Balderich, Mönchengladbach
    • Galerie Fignal, Amsterdam
  • 1970
    • Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
  • 1969
    • Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
  • 1968
    • Mokka, Reykjavík

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2018
    • From the Collection/Against the Wall, SMAK – Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent
  • 2017
    • Rolling Snowball/9, Djúpivogur
    • 1.h.v., Reykjavik, Iceland (w/Örn Alexander Ámudanson)
    • Between I & Thou, HVCCA – Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
    • The multiple versus series versus a unique work, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 2016
    • When Friendship becomes Art, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • De Loop der Dingen / The Way Things Go, Kunsthal Kade, Amersfoort
    • TEXT, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
  • 2015
    • Postcards are to be looked at, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • Selected Portraits from the Collection of the National Gallery of Iceland – From the
    • Rustic to the Selfie, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
  • 2014
    • Drawn, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin
    • Franz Graf: See What Sees You, The Belevedere, Vienna
    • Rolling Snowball 5, Djúpivogur
    • Your Compound View – Selection from the collection from 1970-2010, Reykjavik Art Museum
    • Faster and Slower and Cause and Consequence, (with Donald Judd ) Safn, Berlin
  • 2013
    • Works on Paper, i8 Gallery, Reykjavík
    • Embracing Impermanence, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík
    • B.A.B.E. – The Best Artist Books and Editions, Immanence – Espace d’art Contemporain, Paris
    • Elemental, Boden Arts Center, Boden
    • Collector’s Gaze, Pori Art Museum, Pori
  • 2012
    • Explorateurs, Musée de l’Abbaye Sainte-Croix des Sables d’Olonne
    • To Make a Show It Takes A Thought…, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • Hangman’s Rock – The Delirium of Vision, Kjarvalsstaðir, Reykjavík
    • Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1974, MOCA Los Angeles; Haus der Kunst, Munich
    • Minning um Myndlist, ASÍ Art Museum, Reykjavík
    • Galleri Riis, Oslo
  • 2011
    • Arbeiten aus dem Bleistiftgebiet, Galerie Van Horn, Düsseldorf
    • Perspectives – On the Borders of Art and Philosophy, Reykjavik Art Museum
    • A for Artists – E for Exhibitions, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam, cat.
  • 2010
    • Carnegie Art Award, Listasafn Islands / National Gallery, Reykjavik
    • Carnegie Art Award, The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm
    • Carnegie Art Award, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo
    • Carnegie Art Award, 798 Art Space, Beijing
    • Carnegie Art Award, Royal College of Art, London
    • Abstract, Almost Abstract II, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • Starter Works from the Vehbi Koç Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, Arter – space for art, Istanbul
    • Carnegie Art Award, Kunsthalle Helsinki, Helsinki
    • Carnegie Art Award, CIAC / Centre International d’Art Contemporain, Carros/Nice
  • 2009
    • Latte in Watte, Galleri Riis, Oslo
    • In Deep Water, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður
    • Hrafnkell Sigurðsson and Kristján Guðmundsson, Listasafn Islands / National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
    • Islands & Ghettos, Über territoriale Segregation in Städten des 21. Jahrhundert,
    • Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin
    • Islands + Ghettos, NGBK / Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
    • Several Friends, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik
    • Carnegie Art Award 2010, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
  • 2008
    • Ad Absurdum, MArtA/Möbel Art and architecture/ambience, Herford
    • Dreams of the Sublime and Nowhere, Reykjavík Art Museum – Kjarvalsstaðir
    • Icelandic Art featuring the work of Birgir Andrésson, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, Kristján Gudmundsson and Thor Vigfusson, Quint Gallery, San Diego
    • Islands & Ghettos, Heidelberger Kunstverein, Heidelberg
    • No TV on Thursdays, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 2007
    • Drawing a Tiger, Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin
    • Colour First, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • Im Fluss, Neues Museum Weserburg, Bremen
  • 2006
    • In Between – from the collection, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skarhamn
    • Regarding Facts, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
  • 2005
    • Material Time, Life Time, Work Time, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Gerdasafn, Kópavogur
    • Skyndikynni, Reykjavíkurakademían, Reykjavík
  • 2003
    • Sea and Music, Xiamen
  • 2002
    • BLUE, Place Arte Contemporanea, Cavagnolo
    • D.R.A. Álafoss, Mosfellsbær
  • 2001
    • D.R.A. Exhibition, City Gallery, Pece, Hu
    • Drawing Iceland, Galleri 54, Göteborg
    • Tegnerforbundet, Oslo
  • 2000
    • In the Mirror of Space & Time, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavík
    • Galleri áhaldahús, Vestmannaeyjar
    • 64 N-20 V, Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm
    • Dieter Roth Akademie, Ackermannshof, Basel
  • 1999
    • Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart
    • HH 1, Xiamen
    • Ainsi de Suite 3, Centre régional d´Art Contemporain, Séte
    • Galerie Artek, Helsinki
    • Galerie Heinz Holtmann, Köln (Hommage á Dieter Roth)
    • NORD LB Galerie, Braunschweig (Hommage á Dieter Roth)
    • Gallerí i8, Reykjavík (Stockholm Art Fair)
    • Galerie Nordenhake, Stockholm (Basel Art Fair)
    • Galerie Michael Sturm, Stuttgart
  • 1998
    • Ground, Galerie Stadtpark, Krems (AU); Akureyri Art Museum
    • Galerie Peter Lidner, Vienna
    • Losse werken, rake klappen, Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam
    • 10 years 1988-1998, Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm
  • 1997
    • Absence/Presence, Kópavogur Art Museum, Ground, Ground, Pier Arts
    • Centre, Stromness, Orkney
    • Jahresmuseum 1997, Kunsthaus, Mürzzuschlag (A)
  • 1996
    • (Antarctica) Brahma, Galerie Nächst St. Stephan, Vienna
    • AQUELO, The Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki
  • 1995
    • La Hora del Norte, Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid; Pia Almoina, Barcelona
    • Art Festival, Seyðisfjördur
    • AQUELO, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
    • Galerie d’Arte Moderna, Bologna
  • 1994
    • Ludwig Gosewitz und seine isländische Freunde, Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin
    • Juxtaposition, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
  • 1992
    • Das steinerne Licht, Ostee-Biennale 1992, Kunsthalle Rostock, Rostock
    • Art Festival, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjördur
    • Kunst, Europa-Island, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne
    • Borealis V, Porin taidemuseo, Pori
    • Trans / Mission, Rooseum, Malmö
    • We Won´T Party Alone, St. Gallen Kunstverein, St. Gallen
    • Von angesicht zu angesicht, Gegenwartskunst aus dem Osteseeraum, Kunsthalle zu Kiel, Stadtgalerie im Sophienhof, Kiel;
    • Kunsthalle Latvija, Riga; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Kunst-Werke Berlin
  • 1990
    • The 8th Sydney Biennale, Sydney
    • Northlands, The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford
    • The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin
    • Noli me tangere, Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Sion
    • The Art of Drawing, Kunsterns Hus, Oslo
    • End of the Century, Museum for Decorative Arts, Moscow
    • Bridges, Persons & Lindell Gallery, Helsinki
    • Threshold, Museet for Samtidskunst, Oslo
    • Worlds 90, Joensuu Art Museum
    • 11 cities, 11 nations, Friesland Hal, Leeurwarden, Holland
    • Musée Cantonal des Beaux Arts, Sion
  • 1989
    • Resource Kunst, Akademie der Künste West-Berlin; Stadtgalerie Saarbrücken
    • SÚM 1965-72, The Municipal Museum, Reykjavík
    • The Living Art Museum 10th anniversary, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík
  • 1988
    • Reykjavík Arts Festival, The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík (with Donald Judd & Richard Long)
    • Både /och, The Nordic Arts Center, Sveaborg, Helsinki
  • 1987
    • Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense
    • Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam (with John M. Armleder & Arno Van der Mark)
  • 1986
    • Bone In A Cold Oven, The Nordic Arts Center, Sveaborg, Helsinki
  • 1985
    • Nordic House, Reykjavík
    • Konst i Norden, The Nordic Arts Center, Sveaborg, Helsinki
    • A Nordic Quintessence, ASF Gallery, New York
    • Nordisk Konstförbundt 40 år, Icelandic artists’ books
  • 1984-86
    • Time – The 4th Dimension, Societé des Espositions du palais des Beaux Arts, Brussel, Genf, Mannheim, Humlebæk and London (travelling exhibition)
  • 1984
    • ICELAND: The art revealed, Franklin Furnace, New York
    • 10 visitors, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Kjarvalsstadir, Reykjavík
  • 1983
    • The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík
  • 1982
    • La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (with Jón Gunnar Árnason)
  • 1981
    • The Red House, Akureyri (with Sigrídur Gudjónsdóttir)
      Malmoe, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö
  • 1978-79
    • Elva moderna islänska konstnärer, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö
  • 1977
    • Ça Va? Ça Va?, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris
  • 1975
    • Galerie Waalkens, Finsterwolde
    • Kunstmuseum Luzerne, Luzerne
  • 1974
    • H2O, travelling exhibiton, St. Nikolaj Kirkje, Copenhagen
    • Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem
  • 1973
    • 8e biennale de Paris, Musée d´Art Moderne, Paris
    • Omaha Flow System, Joslin Art Museum, Omaha
  • 1972
    • SÚM, Reykjavík Art Festival, Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
    • Communications, Gallery Inhibodress, Sidney
    • IN-OUT-CENTER, Amsterdam
  • 1971
    • SÚM IV, Museum Fodor, Amsterdam
    • SÚM II & SÚM III, Galleri SÚM, Reykjavík
  • 1968
    • Nordisk Ungdomsbiennale, Amos Anderson Art Museum, Helsinki

WORKS IN COLLECTIONS
The Nordic Watercolour Museum, Skärhamn
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Stedelijk Museum Voor Actuele Kunst, Gent
City of Espoo
B.K.R., Amsterdam
National Gallery of Iceland
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Stadisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach
Safn, Reykjavik
Saastamoinen Foundation, Helsinki
Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm
Reykjavik Art Museum
Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Puteaux
Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo
Living Art Museum, Reykjavik
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Skjerstad Kommune
Frankel Foundation, Michigan