Helgi Gíslason: Where the Boundaries Lie

Helgi Gíslason has many works of art in the public domain of the capital area, across the country and abroad. The sculptures in this exhibition reflect outdoor pieces from different periods of his career. Gíslason has created works in a wide range of materials, highlighting the qualities of each and mastering their potential. Metal, wood, glass, plaster and textiles are all as clay in his hands. The works are strong in their form but their interpretation is fluid, alive and open. Time acts as a chisel remoulding the interpretation of the works so that each generation may approach them anew. 

In his work, Gíslason deals with man and the human condition. His choice of material and form give way for impression and interpretation reflecting the emotional scale. The artist’s public works are divided, on the one hand, into commissioned works and monuments and, on the other hand, works that spring from the artist‘s mind entirely. The public works and his other pieces are closely related, all is the result of what has come before, growing out of the visual world where Gíslason dwells at any given time. In his art, he looks for where the boundaries lie. Both for his goals as an artist but also for his works.

Helgi Gíslason was born in Reykjavík in 1947. He studied at The Icelandic College of Art and Crafts in 1965-69, attended an open art department at the same college in 1970-71 and Valand Academy in Gothenburg in 1971-76. Gíslason has public works in the following places: Memorial for Fishermen, 1988, in Höfn; Scienta sol mentis, 2005, in Breiðholt. Memorial for Thor Jensen and Margrét Þorbjörg Kristjánsdóttir, 1988, in Fríkirkjuvegur 11; Memorial for Albert Guðmundsson, 2009, in Laugardalur; At the Horizon, 2001, in Þorlákshöfn; Flying Mind, 2005, in Selfoss; Door to the National Bank of Iceland, 1986; Untitled, 1982, in Reykjavík Botanic Garden; Memorial for Kaldalón, 1978, in Reykjavík.