"... inspiration from the emptiness of my country."

Contemporary painting from Iceland is the subject of the new exhibition “Hérna” in Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria. In questionnaires each participating artist gave background information to their paintings. This time Aron Reyr Sverrisson discloses need-to-know facts about his paintings, which creatively juxtapose inner and outer spaces.

What is it that makes Icelandic art typical and distinctive?

I don’t think that Icelandic art is that different from art of other nations. Though it could be that we aren’t burdened by art history the way an artist from a country with a long art history is.

What role does your country, its history and its aura, play in your own works?

I get a lot of inspiration from the emptiness of my country. All the deserted farms and so on. I like to imagine how it was when people lived far away from everything and had to battle with nature all year long in total isolation. In a way, that’s the reason for the absence of figures in most of my paintings.

Beyond this, what are the topics and feelings that you process in your art?

For me, my paintings are a kind of self-portrait. They are portraits of my feelings, and express something that is gone, which I try and reveal to the observer.

Is there something like an instruction manual for your pictures – an ideal way of getting closer to the secret and intention behind the picture?

I don't want to give instructions on how to look at or how to experience my work. For me, the best thing is to let the paintings talk to the observers and allow them to affect each person individually.

Please disclose to us how one of the works displayed in the exhibition was created ...

When I start on a new painting I don't know how it’s going to end up at all. I only have an idea of what kind of feeling it is that I want to develop, and I take it from there.

... and the story of a chosen detail that is visible in one of your paintings.

In the painting "005" I painted a poster hanging on a wall showing the New York skyline. I did this because I had recently been in the city and was inspired by it. I wanted that inspirational feeling to come through. I find that the effect of having a picture or a painting within a painting creates layers of feelings.