Hreinn Friðfinnsson’s conceptual work has been characterized as poetic and playful, dealing often with storytelling, nature and time. It can be almost anything: a photograph, a story, a tracing, an atmosphere, a quasi-scientific experiment, a paint stirring stick or a secret. A split second up in the air between the years 1975 and 1976, one shoe searching for the other one to form a pair. His works are often structured around dualities and reversals. Both in form and content they are hard to pin down. The works remain in a state of flux even after their conception, often older works are reused or expanded upon.
Born in 1943 in Baer Dölum, Iceland, Hreinn Friðfinnsson has been living in Amsterdam since 1971. He has exhibited internationally since the 1970s and had solo exhibitions at respected institutions such as the National Gallery (Reykjavík), the Serpentine Gallery (London) and Bergen Konsthall (Norway). 1993 Friðfinnsson represented Iceland at the 45th Venice Biennale, participated in 30th São Paulo Biennial 2012 and Münster Skulptur Projekte 2017. In 2019-2020 a major retrospective To Catch a Fish with a Song: 1964-Today took place at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin and Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva. Amsterdam based venues such as Gallery 845 (1970’s), Galerie van Gelder (1990’s), Kunstverein (2015) and Eenwerk (2018) have hosted solo shows.
Hreinn Friðfinnsson, By the Waterfall, 2019-2022
Stromatolite, Collenia undosa, one of the earliest life forms on earth, between 2.2 and 2.4 billion years old which provided a considerable amount of oxygen to the atmosphere. The crystal balls relating to both optics and myths. The photograph taken ca 1940 by Björn M. Arnórsson