Thórarinsson's Masterful Oils Hidden in a Hipster Haven

Art Interaction - Critique of “KAPRICE - Thrándur Thórarinsson” Exhibit at Nordatlantens Brygge

On the eastern side of Inderhavnsbroen, the newly constructed pedestrian bridge, exists a hipster mecca of draft beer, Apple Pay, and waterside pilings used when diving into the canal. Firmly situated between the food carts and the beach day debauchery, however, is Nordatlantens Brygge, a cultural center of Copenhagen. Along with more corporate spaces for meetings on the upper levels, the ground and first floor of the building are dedicated to visual art. Currently, Thrándur Thórarinsson’s oil paintings adorn the industrial, whitewashed walls. Upon first glance the style of the Icelandic artist’s work seems to be in complete opposition to its youthfully hip surroundings: Thórarinsson paints in the highly naturalistic style that is reminiscent of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. His focus on the minute details of his subjects and carefully layered oil paint produce stunningly realistic scenes.

After spending time with his paintings, however, the original sense of naturalistic perfection gives way to an uneasy recognition of unrealistic additions within the content of his work. In one untitled piece, (pictured below) Thórarinsson portrays two hikers in the mountains as they watch the local livestock. It soon becomes clear that the previously assumed livestock are actually unicorns who are fornicating in a variety of ways, oftentimes using their horns. While Thórarinsson’s stylistic approach is definitely in line with that of the 17th and 18th centuries, the content of the piece is definitely of the more modernly shocking aesthetic.

As pointed out in his artist’s statement, Thórarinsson has also attempted to reproduce a variety of motifs and tropes utilized during the Danish golden age of painting. When painting landscapes he captures the warm and soft northern light as it is reflected on the idealized countryside scene. In his interior scenes, he realistically paints small portrait groups and the items in their homes, paying attention to the intricacies of the “new-rich middle-class” in the typical Danish Golden Age fashion. In his piece, “Reykjavíkurnætur” (pictured below), Thórarinsson puts the middle-class center stage as he paints a raucous street corner in which drunkards have begun to prance around. In the dim light of the setting sun, a headless man kisses a woman in the foreground of the painting, while a woman takes a selfie with some strangers a few feet behind them. As one woman runs naked through the crowd and another man vomits on the floor, the painting never verges into being particularly eerie or gruesome. Paramount is his desire to capture the communal warmth of a shared setting sun in the north country.

Thórarinsson successfully shows his love for Scandinavia in two ways. The first is through his expertly crafted landscapes and the second is through his integration of Danish and Icelandic cultural traditions. When painting landscapes, Thórarinsson tends to either pack his paintings with figures, such as in “Dr. Louises Bro” (pictured below: left) or focuses his full attention on the cityscape, as seen in “Gammelstrand” (pictured below: right). In the latter, Thórarinsson expertly captures the reflection of the streetlamps as their emanations are reflected on the wide streets of Copenhagen. The city’s residents, who walk alongside the canal in the night, seem to stop and admire the city in the same way that Thórarinsson does himself. In “Dr. Louises Bro,” the artist is up to his old tricks, however, letting the figures take center stage as he depicts a variety of Danish locals on a city bridge. As a woman on her cell phone, a man posing in the nude, and a chicken all convene on the side of the road, Thórarinsson paintings never seems to lack humorous creativity.

Thórarinsson’s most recent work, located on the second floor of the exhibit, features a number of examples of his exploration of Scandinavian folklore. One of the figures who Thórarinsson seems particularly intrigued by is Grýla, the macabre, child-eating giantess of Iceland. According to mythology, she steals and eats children, a story that was told to children in an attempt to get them to behave. Thórarinsson created two different renditions of the Grýla character, the first is a painting by the name of “Grýla,” and the second is an equally riveting unnamed print (both shown below). While the oil painting captures the eerie gray and brown hues of the room in which Grýla is consuming a child in its crib, the black and white print fully exhibit the movement of light from the mother opening the door to the room as it is cast on her dying child’s face. Thórarinsson proves that he can expertly switch medium in order to accurately depict the Icelandic tale that has haunted children for centuries.

Despite being an exhibit of no more than twenty paintings in total, a trip to the Nordatlantens Brygge is well worth it. Thórarinsson delivers the expertise and attention to minutia of that of the 18th century oil painters, the always-pleasing chaotic whimsy, and a strong dose of Icelandic mythology to sober you up before re-entering the exhibit’s beachy surroundings.