Lot 30: SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSSON

SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSSON ICELANDER B. 1942 FIVE MALES AND AN EGG 2007 c-print on aluminium, edition 1/3 120 x 150 cm / 47.24 x 59.06"

Some recent solo exhibitions
Galerie van Gelder, Amsterdam 2009
Reykjavik Art Museum, Reykjavik 2008
BALTIC The Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead 2003
i8 Gallery, Reykjavik 2002

Some recent group exhibitions
Galleri Susanne Ottesen, Copenhagen 2007, 'My Chinese Friends'
Stadtgalerie Kiel, 2006, 'Unsere Kunst – Eure Kunst'
Stedelijk Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch 2003, 'Floating Time 2003 – Lethe, rivier der vergetelheid'

Selected publications
Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Mutes, Reykjavik: Reykjavik Art Museum 2008
Manon Berendse (ed.), Unlocked # 2: rabo art collection, Amsterdam: Rabobank Nederland 2005
Sigurdur Gudmundsson: situations, Sittard: Museum Het Domein 2000

Selected public and corporate collections
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, FR • Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL • Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE • Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, NL • National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavik, IS • Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, FI • CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, NL • Malmö Konsthall, SE

donated by the artist

Sigurdur Gudmundsson began his artistic activity in the 1960s; his varied achievements have grown into an oeuvre that is as diverse as it is vigorous, succulent and original: documented and undocumented performances, photographs, drawings, prints, sculptures, installations and even musical compositions. He doesn't let formalities tie him down, nor technical problems or conventional views about the boundaries of genres in art. His art bears his personal imprint – that of an extroverted, funny, intelligent and generous man. It raises one's spirits, sets thoughts in motion and gives pleasure.
Five Males and an Egg shows five men standing in a clearing in the woods, gazing at an illuminated egg, which is the source of the light in the photograph. The men's attention focused on the egg is all-consuming, excluding everything around them. The beholder is encouraged to look for an allegorical meaning. Whatever that allegory is – if that is the right category of meaning – it is not to be found in a known story or a fable. Gudmundsson's work is still distinguished by poetry, romanticism, and philosophy and he demands the viewer to be a poet, a romantic and a philosopher.

Sigurdur Gudmundsson is advisor at the Rijksakademie.