Ragnar Kjartansson: A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird
The first Estonian solo exhibition of the Icelandic video artist and painter Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976) consists of six large works from 2004–2025. A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird provides insight into the oeuvre of one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic artists in the contemporary international art scene. His art has been influenced by pop music, recent and classic art history and, in a less straightforward way, by political upheavals. Although his works are highly conceptual, i.e. full of cultural connotations and quotes, Kjartansson’s oeuvre is truly affective, touching the viewer strongly and very intimately.
Gallery
Curator Anders Härm on the exhibition:
Kjartansson first gained international fame in the Icelandic pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2009, and it’s safe to say that he has been the most sought-after Icelandic, and possibly even Nordic, artist over the past decade: his solo exhibitions have taken place in MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, in the Barbican Centre in London and in the Louisiana Museum near Copenhagen, as well as in Stuttgart, Zürich, Helsinki, Washington and elsewhere.
In the early 2000s, Kjartansson first became known as a musician and singer, primarily as the eccentric and hyper performative frontman of the electro-clash and glam-rock band Trabant. Nevertheless, he probably would not protest if we were to suggest that as an artist he is, in fact, a self-ironic country singer who – to put it sneeringly and figuratively – has been making art with a glass of whisky in his hand ever since his car broke down, while he also failed to complete any task at hand and his wife and dog left him.
The central motifs in his art are said to be love, identity, melancholia, masculinity, strength and powerlessness: befitting a country dude, one might add. Yet this simplified image is undermined and nuanced by his delving into the conventions of art history and playing with them: a subtle dialogue with the classics of feminist art and the tradition of landscape painting, black as well as musical humour, ruthless self-irony and self-criticism, and uncompromising ridicule of the (patriarchal) combination of violence and power. Although a “feminist country singer” is definitely a contradictory combination, Kjartansson is its perfect embodiment.
Kumu Courtyard Festival: Icelandic Currents
The summer festival, held for the first time last year, is coming again to Kumu’s inner courtyard. This time it takes place on 7 June and is associated with Ragnar Kjartansson’s exhibition. The festival features creative people linked to Iceland. There will be workshops and exhibition tours, live music and food inspired by the North.
Team:
Curator: Anders Härm
Exhibition designers: Anders Härm and Aleksander Meresaar
Graphic design: Tuuli Aule
Technical managers: Siim Hiis, Aleksander Meresaar and Mati Schönberg
Coordinator: Anastassia Langinen
Artist’s studio manager: Lilja Gunnarsdóttir
Artist’s technical manager: Christopher McDonald
Exhibition team: Richard Adang, Darja Andrejeva, Hrafnkell Guðmundsson, Maari Hinsberg, Liisa Kaljula, Birkir Karlsson, Frederik Klanberg, Ketlin Käpp, Tambet Kütt, Liina Lepik, Eva-Erle Lilleaed, Maria Lota Lumiste, Anu Lüsi, Aleksandra Murre, Grete Nilp, Kaisa-Piia Pedajas, Villu Plink, Johann Põldra, Renita Raudsepp, Laura Tahk, Terje Tammearu, Madli Valk and Helen Volber
We thank:
i8 Gallery (Reykjavik), Luhring Augustine (New York) and Ingibjörg Sigurjónsdóttir
With the support of
the Embassy of Iceland
