Galerie Nordenhake Berlin is pleased to present an exhibition with the Icelandic artist Hreinn Friðfinnsson. His sparse and minimalistic art has lightness in tone, and seems never to stop questioning its own raison d'�tre. His works can be described as highly conceptual but with narrative undertones. Friðfinnsson possesses an intimate knowledge of different materials, and he is very keen on the content being presented in its right form. The result is works that are to the point as sentences from an Icelandic saga.
In the 1970's a group of young Icelandic artists, Hreinn Friðfinnsson amongst them, started making conceptual works using literary and geographical elements from Iceland. Many of these artists moved to Amsterdam, a city that at the time functioned as a centre for the particular European brand of conceptual art (such as Jan Baas van Ader); but did never fully lose contact with their homeland, using instead its specific qualities and its culture as a resource. Another reference in his work is the school of Dutch painters concentrating on interiors and still lives, with their intricate play of visual and material symbolism, which forms a bridge to his use of glass objects and mirrors.
The present show at Galerie Nordenhake gives the viewer the full scope of an artistic project that is rich in its expressions, but that nevertheless keeps a relentless focus upon aesthetic fundamentals. Hreinn Friðfinnsson was born in D�lum, Iceland, in 1943. He lives and works in Amsterdam since 1971.
Friðfinnsson has made several exhibitions with Galerie Nordenhake Stockholm over the years and also participated in gallery group show,s such as "64� N. - 20� V." in 2000 together with Kristj�n Gudmundsson and Sigurdur Gudmundsson. After his participation in our group show "Out of Place" 2004 this is his first solo exhibition at Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin.
