Curator’s Tour of “Ragnar Kjartansson: A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird”
As a part of the finissage of the exhibition, curator Anders Härm will lead a guided tour of the exhibition. The tour provides an insight into the oeuvre of one of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic artists in the contemporary international art scene, the Icelandic video artist and painter Ragnar Kjartansson (b. 1976). Kjartansson’s art has been influenced by pop music, recent and classic art history and, in a less straightforward way, by political upheavals. The exhibition occupies the Great Hall of Kumu and the three project spaces of the permanent displays on the third and fourth floors, consisting of six large works from 2004–2025.
The exhibition provides cursory insight into Kjartansson’s oeuvre with its three dominant, often interrelated directions: the musical, the feminist and the art historical. Albeit highly conceptual, i.e. full of cultural connotations and quotes, Kjartansson’s oeuvre is affective, touching the viewer strongly and yet very intimately. The earliest work displayed at the exhibition is Mercy from 2004, i.e. from practically the beginning of his artistic career, whereas the latest, the series of paintings Weekdays in Arcadia, was created specifically for the Kumu exhibition.
This event is a part of the public programme of the exhibition “Ragnar Kjartansson: A Boy and a Girl and a Bush and a Bird”.
