Work Description

Argobooks has published books with Egill Sæbjörnsson since 2009, starting with the artist book "She was a Fighter" accompanying his Artist Residency and part of a series of books at Künstlerhäuser Worpswede with Bernd Milla as a curator. 2010 he had an exhibition at Kunstverein Frankfurt, where Argobooks published the accompanying catalogue "The Book". Since the beginning of his artistic career, Egill is not only a musician with a number 1 hit, but also developed all kinds of animated characters which enrich his work. Some of them might be recalling the imaginary friends, many of us had in our childhood, but some of theme seem to lead their own life in the art world... Such as Ugh and Boogar, who literally "took over" the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2017. They designed cups and plates in ceramics, developed a fashion line and ate the tourists.

Notes

"The red thread running through Egill's work, regardless of material or content, is the creation of characters. These characters have developed alongside him, serving as imaginary friends and taking form in both figurative and inanimate objects imbued with agency. " (Arnbjörg Mara Danielsen, curator of the exhibition at the National Gallery of Iceland, catalogue, p. 29), Ugh and Boogar, Bergur and Hexadur, Sviddi and Roddi, some of these characters were developed long ago, some "took over" in the artists exhibitions, such as at the Icelandic Pavilion of the Biennale Art di Venezia in 2017. The book accompanies Egill Sæbjörnsson's solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Iceland called “Egill Sæbjörnsson and the Infinite Friends of the Universe”. Egill Sæbjörnsson is a contemporary artist, born 1971, but also a performer and talented musician. He has always involved characters and objects in his work, such as imaginary friends, trolls, speaking stones or buckets.The catalog is richly illustrated and contains foreword by Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttir, museum director, an article by curator Arnbjörg María Danielsen, an article by professor Margrét Elísabet Ólafsdóttir along with a detailed overview of the artist’s characters creations and an article by Egill’s mother Ágústa Oddsdóttir.

Publisher Note