When I last visited Iceland, which was quite a few years ago, I wanted to visit some museums in Reykjavik. Some people go to museums to see something that they know is there, which is OK of course, but I kind of like to find out new things. And as I didn't know anything about Icelandic art, it was all virgin territory for me.
Most of what I saw in what I think was probably the national museum was nice, but nothing that really blew me away. I saw a lot of 19th century type landscapes. I don't pretend to be an expert--I fully expect that the art scene over there is every bit as diverse and interesting as the music scene happens to be. But what I saw there that day I felt was quite conservative in style.
Then out of the corner of my eye, I see artworks that are in jarring contrast to what I had seen so far in this museum. They are wild colorful artworks, almost like collages, like 60's pop art, Roy Lichtenstein, Warhol, Dali, maybe with a bit of comic book/cartoon art in the mix. Political, satirical, comedic, erotic.
Art by some guy named Erro.
Years later I brought Erro's name up to an Icelandic artist who I had bought a painting from, a very nice abstract work, created with colors that were evocative of Iceland, even though she had resided in NYC for a long time. She didn't think too much of him. But I explained about how different he seemed to what I was had seen on my trip, and I think she understood what I was saying. I think the word they used to describe him was "provocateur". I think I kind of understood what she was saying also.
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