Övergångar = Transformations / Erla S. Haraldsdóttir ; utställningskommissarie, Lena Sjöstrand ; text, Lena Sjöstrand, Craniv A. Boyd.

Stockholm : Arvinius + Orfeus Publishing, 2021.

112 pages : color illustrations ; 25 cm

Transformations features reproductions and details of the Icelandic artist's recent paintings, drawings, and mosaics, from a project that she began in 2020: Taking the symbolism that surrounds the holiday of Easter as a departure point, Erla S. Haraldsdóttir utilizes figurative oil painting to construct playful and highly personal interpretations that present 21st century imagery of the death and resurrection of Christ. Paintings that remain open-ended and ambiguous at the same time. Her art practice cites heavily from a broad range of cultural production, including the Western canon of art history, regional early modern painters from Iceland, South African murals of the Ndebele people, the Benin Bronzes, personal family photographs, and medieval illuminated manuscripts. These varied sources are then arranged according to an at times secret logic driven by tasks that the artist will execute in a method of creating art based on rules and restrictions, structures adopted from the French literary movement OULIPO. Her skillful large format paintings create tableaux that invite viewers to consider possible worlds infused with symbolism, memory, landscape, interiors and kinship.

Swedish; English

January 13, 2022

Exhibition catalogs.