Listasafn Einars Jónssonar (2022)

Einars Jónsson’s Sculpture Museum
Rósa Gísladóttir’s Museum in Einar Jónsson’s Sculpture Museum
June 24. – September 25. 2022

The Rocket and the Diamond, 2020

The exhibition in Hnitbjörg is called Rósa Gísladóttir’s Museum in Einar Jónsson’s Sculpture Museum. It is a great challenge to exhibit in this museum as the building is protected by law and any activity there is subject to strict conditions in the artist’s will. The idea is to work with the sculptor’s self-centered vision of donating his works to the state and having a museum built that preserves them and his name for eternity – thereby making himself immortal. The exhibition draws inspiration from Einar’s work, but the ideology behind it is drawn from the work of his contemporary, the Ukrainian avantgarde artist Kazimir Malevich (1879–1935). In the 1920s, Malevich made sculptures he called “arkitektons”, abstract models of structures that could be built – or perhaps not.
All the works in the exhibition are new. There are five arkitektons sculptures, which are proposals for Rósa Gísladóttir Museum, and a portrait of Hnitbjörg, which is the largest work. All the works are in conversation with Einar’s Museum and its surroundings, not least Hallgrímskirkja which towers over Reykjavík. I use columnar basalt, which is one of the main characteristics in Einar’s art and is also the hallmark of Hallgrímskirkja. The material is plaster, led light, and glass. I find it interesting to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors and deal with their ideas and work. Rósa Gísladóttir’s Museum represents an inscrutable approach to the idea of private museums and their purpose, questioning the idea of such museums, as frozen museum space is an incredible anachronism today.
Nevertheless, the museum has had a special place in my heart since childhood, as I grew up in the neighborhood. This impressive castle was enchanting, impenetrable as it was, with its mighty gates, usually closed, and a large garden in the back, which was also closed at the time. In the light of this background, it is a dream come true that I should now have the honor of exhibiting my work in this riveting venue.
(Rósa Gísladóttir, 2022).

Arkitekton I, Mkv. 1:100 (plaster, height 80 cm) 2022