Art

Iceland’s famous art-world trickster trades the silly for the sublime

Published

1 year ago

August 17, 2023

Me and My Mother, 2015, video by Ragnar Kjartansson.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

In the rarified setting of a modern art foundation north of Copenhagen, the sophisticated atmosphere is interrupted by the blast of a shotgun. The international gallery crowd seems unperturbed. After all, what’s a gunshot or two when you are surrounded by the many provocations of Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson? Visitors have been introduced to this exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art by videos in which Kjartansson’s own mother spits in his face.

The shots are part of another piece from 2007, made just a few months before the collapse of the Icelandic economy: A man in a winter landscape (played by the Icelandic comedian Laddi) loads his gun and shoots it aimlessly into the air. He carries his cartridges in a yellow plastic shopping bag, a reference to the Bonus supermarket chain whose owner was implicated in the financial crisis. His pointless but repeated shots punctuate another persistent sound in the gallery: the drone-like song from Mercy, a 2004 video in which Kjartansson himself appears as country crooner with slicked-back hair, repeating the lyric “Oh why do I keep on hurting you?” for more than 60 minutes.

The Louisiana Museum, located about 40 kilometres north of Copenhagen in the leafy town of Humlebaek, is a tantalizing place – both bucolic and assertive. Established in the 1950s by Knud Jensen, the heir to a cheese wholesaling fortune, it is nestled in a modernist sculpture garden set on a cliff overlooking the sound that faces Sweden, and features a big-name collection of postwar art displayed in a honeycomb of low buildings and subterranean galleries. All that is very pleasant, but the real draw is a rich program of temporary exhibitions and this summer a retrospective devoted to the Icelandic trickster is Europe’s hot ticket.

On a recent Sunday, hip Danes and savvy tourists crowded into the show, entitled Epic Waste of Love and Understanding, to experience 20 years’ worth of Kjartansson’s videos, a suite of paintings created for the 2009 Venice Biennale and a continuing performance where an actor sidesteps his precarious way along a high ledge in a museum stairwell. The tongue-in-cheek title – is it the artist or the audience who are wasting their sympathetic efforts? – is typical of Kjartansson’s mischievous probing of the line between art and cultural cliché.

Canadians may know Kjartansson’s work from Death is Elsewhere, the hypnotic 2019 video installation in-the-round that features two sets of singing twins slowly circling the viewer in a volcanic landscape, and which showed at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto in 2020. Or they may remember what is probably Kjartansson’s most famous work, The Visitors, a nine-screen installation in which the artist and friends play music simultaneously but separately in different rooms of an old mansion in upstate New York. Unveiled at Zurich’s Migros Museum in 2012, it showed at Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain in 2016. (The latter installation is included in the Louisiana show; the former is not.)

Ragnar Kjartansson’s The Visitors (2012), installed at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Still from The Visitors.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

These works are poignantly lyrical: The Visitors, named for ABBA’s last album, speaks hauntingly of human connection through music; Death is Elsewhere was shot at the site of a devastating 18th-century volcanic eruption. Notably, this retrospective reveals how Kjartansson developed two key approaches – repetition and duration – in his earlier, more provocative pieces yet also mellowed considerably in recent work. The video where his mother, the Icelandic actress Gudrun Asmundsdottir, spits in his face was first shot in 2000 and is repeated every five years against the same bookcase in the artist’s childhood home. Mother and son gradually age but the uncomfortable humour of the piece, undercutting enduring notions of maternal affection with a classic gesture of contempt, remains.

It’s one of many works where Kjartansson tested the viewer’s endurance. Colonization, a video from 2003, shows a Danish aristocrat in a wig berating and beating an Icelandic peasant (played by Kjartansson himself). It’s a satirical reference to Denmark’s long colonization of Iceland, which only gained its full independence in 1944. Like some slasher movie, the over-the-top piece directly challenges the viewer’s ability to watch as the blood flows and the peasant screams in pain.

Of course, Kjartansson’s 2013-2014 collaboration with the American band the National, in which they repeated their 2010 hit song Sorrow for six hours, also challenges the viewer’s stamina. At Louisiana, people came and went; few seemed likely to do the full marathon.

The Venice paintings of 2009 represent a different kind of marathon: During a six-month residency in a studio on the Grand Canal, Kjartansson hung out with his friend, the artist Pall Haukur Bjornsson, and painted him 144 times, showing him lounging about in his Speedo, smoking and drinking. Mounted in chronological order in a crowded installation at the Louisiana, they offer a pointed undercutting of any notion of a male artistic genius – this guy is a slacker – just as Mercy mocks the macho self-pity of the country star.

That humour remains as Kjartansson’s work has progressed, but it’s far subtler. The stairwell performance at the Louisiana may seem obvious – will he fall? Will he jump? Will you look? – but the climax of the show is another remarkable video piece that sits between the silly and the sublime with a half-hour duration that again becomes hypnotic.

No Tomorrow (2022) video installation by Ragnar Kjartansson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

In No Tomorrow, a collaboration with choreographer Margret Bjarnadottir and composer Bryce Dessner, eight female guitarists – dancers from the Iceland Dance Company – perform simple but expressive movements all perfectly choreographed across separate screens. Dressed in jeans and white T-shirts, they strum slowly and intone the lyric “Oh babe, no tomorrow,” (a reference to the late 18th-century libertine social novel Point de lendemain, by the French writer Vivant Denon).

Still from No Tomorrow (2022) video installation by Ragnar Kjartansson at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Louisiana positions the work politically between its live performance shortly after the inauguration of U.S. president Donald Trump and its video version dating to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Originally conceived as a staged dance, the video adds an important new element because the dancers are initially isolated on separate screens but gradually come together on one, as though contradicting their depressive song.

Is it ridiculous to have hope? Scandinavia’s best court jester, Kjartansson performs on a knife edge between the naïve and the knowing.

Scandinavian Pain by Ragnar Kjartansson (from the collection of the National Gallery of Iceland) installed at the cafe at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Mus/Ragnar Kjartansson/Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Epic Waste of Love and Understanding continues at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark, to Oct. 22.

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Art

Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

Published

24 hours ago

September 13, 2024

Harry Miller

In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.

Art

Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone – BBC.com

Published

2 weeks ago

September 2, 2024

Harry Miller

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Ukrainian sells art in Essex while stuck in a warzone BBC.com

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Art

Somerset House Fire: Courtauld Gallery Reopens, Rest of Landmark Closed

Published

4 weeks ago

August 18, 2024

Harry Miller

The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House has reopened its doors to the public after a fire swept through the historic building in central London. While the gallery has resumed operations, the rest of the iconic site remains closed “until further notice.”

On Saturday, approximately 125 firefighters were called to the scene to battle the blaze, which sent smoke billowing across the city. Fortunately, the fire occurred in a part of the building not housing valuable artworks, and no injuries were reported. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

Despite the disruption, art lovers queued outside the gallery before it reopened at 10:00 BST on Sunday. One visitor expressed his relief, saying, “I was sad to see the fire, but I’m relieved the art is safe.”

The Clark family, visiting London from Washington state, USA, had a unique perspective on the incident. While sightseeing on the London Eye, they watched as firefighters tackled the flames. Paul Clark, accompanied by his wife Jiorgia and their four children, shared their concern for the safety of the artwork inside Somerset House. “It was sad to see,” Mr. Clark told the BBC. As a fan of Vincent Van Gogh, he was particularly relieved to learn that the painter’s famous Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear had not been affected by the fire.

Blaze in the West Wing

The fire broke out around midday on Saturday in the west wing of Somerset House, a section of the building primarily used for offices and storage. Jonathan Reekie, director of Somerset House Trust, assured the public that “no valuable artefacts or artworks” were located in that part of the building. By Sunday, fire engines were still stationed outside as investigations into the fire’s origin continued.

About Somerset House

Located on the Strand in central London, Somerset House is a prominent arts venue with a rich history dating back to the Georgian era. Built on the site of a former Tudor palace, the complex is known for its iconic courtyard and is home to the Courtauld Gallery. The gallery houses a prestigious collection from the Samuel Courtauld Trust, showcasing masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Among the notable works are pieces by impressionist legends such as Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Vincent Van Gogh.

Somerset House regularly hosts cultural exhibitions and public events, including its popular winter ice skating sessions in the courtyard. However, for now, the venue remains partially closed as authorities ensure the safety of the site following the fire.

Art lovers and the Somerset House community can take solace in knowing that the invaluable collection remains unharmed, and the Courtauld Gallery continues to welcome visitors, offering a reprieve amid the disruption.

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