Ragnar Kjartansson, „Feuerchen!“, 2011

sawn flake board (18 mm), painted

different sizes (from 20 x 29 cm up to 35 x 67 cm)

Uniques

Exlusively for members

The art of Ragnar Kjartansson (born 1976, lives in Reykjavík) follows the tradition of action performance developed in the 1970s: repetition and the associated theme of duration and perseverance are at the heart of his beguiling video installations, paintings and photographs. Moments of emotion, pure expression or endless longing are repeated many times – until physical or mental exhaustion. Kjartansson is concerned with capturing great emotions and existential experiences, in the certainty that these can never be fully fathomed, but perhaps transcended. For his installations and performances, he often uses scenery elements reminiscent of theatre stage setups. For his large solo exhibition at the Frankfurter Kunstverein in 2011, for example, he built a more than nine meter high flaming backdrop in the eye of the staircase under the title “Fire!” The sculpture could be read as a catastrophic fire as well as a romantic campfire. The “Feuerchen!” were created from the remains of the sculpture “Feuer!”, which no longer exists today and has become a legend.