SIGURDUR GUDMUNDSSON, Encore, 1991, each 68 x 80 cm, 3 parts, analogue colour photos, edition 9 + 1 AP, each framed
After Sigurdur Gudmundsson destroyed 'The Waterfall' from 1981 (a photo. or 'situation' as he called it) in 1982 because he was not satisfied with the result on closer inspection, he did not make photo works for a decade. It had become too familiar territory for him. He said about this: "When I have come up with a situation I know exactly what it will look like. Then I don't feel like making it anymore". Ten years later he made use of photography again. However, it became a 'situation' in three photo parts, something he had never done before. He gave it the title 'Encore'.
The work 'Encore' is an ode to logic-that-is-illogical. The first and last photos suggest a clear associative relationship, but it remains unclear what exactly happened there. Yet the center panel tells something about it. It is a genius way of explaining how not to explain what happened between an empty table where everything is possible and the final thinly result, i.e. a puzzle.
The work invites to contemplate, I think. For example, it is a not unimportant detail that the result on the table contrasts with the blue firmament used as the background in the first photo.
KvG