2015 - 2023

Reaykjalundur, Iceland
Ongoing Project

I spent three months working on this painting and it was a difficult process. When I had finished I was thinking about how I could exhibit it or where, but wasn't happy with the idea of just hanging it in a gallery. Somehow it felt that would not have complemented the meaning of the painting, or completed it.

The painting depicts a Buddha in a cardboard box. Buddhism is about interconnectedness. Buddha meditated for many years, attempting to become one with the universe. Because of this, I felt that the painting needed to have extra space. I started to think about a place where it could be connected to nature.

From my point of view, Iceland is a country that is very isolated from the rest of the world. And that is how I feel the painting is too. The Buddha is both connected and isolated - and in the painting, the figure faces into the box. He looks away from us.

Iceland was the best choice for me because it has the same conditions - loneliness, emptiness, and a powerful sense of nature.

Reykjalundur is a remote place one hour from Reykjavik by car.

The idea is to have a wall where the painting will be fixed and will stay for one year or more, facing the landscape. Hopefully, the work will be affected by nature - rain, wind, the changing seasons - and it will leave its imprint on the image.

I'm interested also in the notion that the painting will be exhibited but won't have a viewer. It will be a meditative situation.

Launched: Reykjalundur, 3 November 2015. Ended 23 June 2023.