Icelandic artist Anna Jóelsdóttir’s series paintings speak eloquently about an ongoing dialogue within the language of abstract forms that are always related to the logic of representation. Her series of paintings entitled “chaos” let the artist tear down or build up forms that are always in a flux. At the same time, her meticulously painted sticks show her idiosyncratic way of solving the dichotomy between hard-edge geometry and her curvilinear abstraction. In her meticulous and inventive approach to objects such as sticks or diaries or large-scale three-dimensional installations, one can always trace her closeness to the logic of painting.
Anna’s three-dimensional installations – paintings on mylar, are site-specific. She explains her relationship to space: “I am learning as I go... It is both thrilling and scary -- ... I approach this problem as a painter, I try to see the space as a painting, try to imagine things in a space like they would fit into a painting.” In this context, her work finds friendly company in the works of artists she admires such as Richard Tuttle, Sarah Sze, Kara Walker, and Mary Heilmann, among others. Apart from formal investigations, these works are meant to be viewed within a loose concept of metaphorical narrative.
An international artist, Anna Jóelsdóttir has exhibited at the Tarble Arts Cemter(EIU), Zg Gallery in Chicago, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland and ASÍ Museum in Reykjavík. She has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and Hafnarborg Institute in Iceland. She has also exhibited at the Evanston Art Center in Illinois, the Living Art Museum in Reykjavík, and the West Bend Art Museum in Wisconsin. Jóelsdóttir studied at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her MFA.