Faroese Art - Contemporary Faroese Art

Contemporary Faroese Art

The landscape has been the national theme of Faroese painting, arguably as a collectively chosen shell around the core of modern painting. In recent years, however, other subjects have emerged and appear to be edging out the landscape. The common denominator for the younger generation of Faroese artists is that they all have managed to outline new directions for Faroese art, while at the same time, relating with insight to the Faroese landscape tradition. The interest in the human mind, existential or philosophical questions or the internal landscapes seems to rise. The postmodern interest in contemporary philosophy, mass media and politics has begun to appear in Faroese art, and has emerged concomitantly with its appearance in other countries.

The Faroese visual art has hardly ever been as manifold as it is today, although the genre remains traditional painting. There is a lot of pessimism among the artists themselves. They are doubtful of the future of Faroese art and they fear that the small-scaled nature and isolation of Faroese art may prove to be insurmountable handicaps. In the long run, they say 50,000 people and a couple of dozen artists will not be able to sustain a living artistic culture. Naturally, there is a danger that it might stagnate and die from lack of nourishment. At the same time, it is difficult to see how things could go so wrong while the need is so great.

There are many young artists who are currently identifying new paths for Faroese art. The younger generation of Faroese artists has mainly chosen to reside abroad as has Hansina Iversen, who is based in Copenhagen and Hanni Bjartalíð in Helsinki.

• Hansina Iversen (1966) ostensibly distances herself from nature as a motif. Her pictures are non-figurative and pure, seemingly purified of motif. The smooth fluency of her works are an exploration of the absolute and, thus, nature. Iversen has created a new philosophical approach to the Faroese Landscape tradition.

• Hanni Bjartalíð(1968) uses humour to describe man´s relation to nature. His imagery is primarily of the modern world. Modern man´s alienation from nature is a natural theme in his art. Bjartalíð demonstrates great freedom regarding Faroese and Nordic art landscape traditions, which are associated with romantic conception of a uniqe Nordic soul characterised by a close relation to nature.

• Edward Fuglø(1965) avoids landscapes; his symbolism concerns people. He creates surreal-comic and ironic paintings. Fuglø observes and mocks people – mostly men – in their absurd activities. The images are always pointed at political or perhaps art-political commentary. His imagery is in many ways innovative in the Faroese tradition. Fuglø is also one of the best illustrators in the Faroes.