“I use a similar technique while painting as I do while playing jazz. I let emotions lead the way. I start with the white canvas without any preconceived idea about what I will paint. I prefer to paint with my feelings and lose myself in the moment,” says the artist and architect Thorsteinn Helgason about his work which is now exhibited at Gallerí Fold. Critics have described his pictures as a poetic interaction with colour. “The show is called Shape-projection, as a succession of my last exhibition which was called Colour-projection. Then, the concept came from the idea of me projecting colour onto a surface. Throughout the years, I have worked a lot with shapes in my art as a logical continuation of my architectural studies, which is working with shapes and forms. Except for now, I am working with much less defined shapes than before, so you can say that the name of the exhibition refers to me projecting shapes past the edge of the canvas,” he said.

Interaction of music and visual art

It is fully intentional that none of the works have a name. Mr. Helgason wants the viewers to interpret the paintings from their own emotions, rather than obtaining them from the name. “Similarly to people’s reaction to music, everyone interprets it their own way,” he explained.
The resonance to his many exhibitions has been positive since he started showing his work in 1998. This is the fourth time he exhibits at Gallerí Fold. In 2004, he was a finalist in the Winsor&Newton Millennium Painting competition which was exhibited in London, Stockholm and New York.
Mr. Helgason likes to compose jazz music in his spare time. During the opening of the exhibition, jazz was performed live to connect these two passions of his. “In the future, I would like to perform my own music next to the paintings. I see it as some form of interaction between music and the paintings,” he said.

FRÍÐA H. ELMARSDÓTTIR
frida@vb.is

Icelandic Financial News, october 2007