Example Sculptures Made of volcanic ash1blended concrete
“Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur build up their sculptures layer by layer using ash1 blended concrete. The concrete is then patiently sanded down again, a process that mimics the gradual erosion of the ancient objects - the patina and color depth of age - and gives the sculptures a timeless quality. At first sight they remind one of old metal but a closer inspection reveal even greater depth and a more complex structure, like metal, or stone or wood, or simply like nothing one has seen before.” Jón Proppé, art critic and curator
Andrea Hörður Harðarson Brynhildur Péursdóttir andreahordur@gmail.com brynhildurp@gmail.com www.shita.com 1
From Eyjafjallajökull
Here follow 7 Chromolithography’s and 5 digital-photo examples as representations of sculptures made of volcanic ash1 blended concrete. We choose to represent them in this media for your consideration – As Representations they lead us to the most fundamental and troubling questions of discourse: that of representation and of mimesis . . . which are indeed the base of certain Aristotelian conceptions - that in recent years, become a relative concern in contemporary artistic/cultural studies - suggesting that we cannot but be preoccupied by this ancient problem of aesthetic procedure, one that is bound up with the beginnings of description and of “art” itself. Representations coincide with an enigma in the subject/object relation that may be nothing more or less than the fragility of enunciation, the arbitrary moment of its commencement and it’s expiring.
.
Pages from a Book of Cromolithographys - representations of schultures, made of volkanic ash blended concrete
Pegasus, unicorns, and centaurs have been part of human culture from prehistoric times and continue to fire our imagination today. The world of these wondrous mythical beings lies just beyond our own and the boundaries between the two are thin and unstable, as our folklore shows. The world of myth and strange beings reveals a hidden aspect to our own consciousness, a realm where we sense the presence of a reality and a time beyond our everyday experience.
The sculptures of Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur seem to spring from these hidden corners and evoke another time and another stage of being. They show us the creatures of myth and shapes that echo long-gone civilizations, but even more importantly they attest to an obsession with craft and detail rarely met with in contemporary art. In fact, the viewer is initially transfixed by the evident care and work that has been expended on each piece, endless hours of patient toil where most artists of our day would have sought simpler and less arduous methods.
Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur build up their sculptures layer by layer using ash blended concrete. The concrete is then patiently sanded down again, a process that mimics the gradual erosion of the ancient objects - the patina and color depth of age - and gives the sculptures a timeless quality. At first sight they remind one of old metal but a closer inspection reveal even greater depth and a more complex structure, like metal, or stone or wood, or simply like nothing one has seen before.
Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur method also allows them to achieve the subtle shapes and details that are so characteristic of their work so that their fantastic animals evoke the petrified remains of living beings and their urns and vessels echo those ancient times when even humble objects required the artisan's attention in every detail. In fact, the work is so time-consuming that the artists can only produce a handful of sculptures each year - a sharp contrast to the mass production that characterizes our age, even in art.
Not only do the outside surfaces of Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur sculptures show their patient application, their insides - their hidden parts - receive even more meticulous attention. Inside the urns are carefully sculpted faces and figures that are never seen by the audience, hardly even hinted at by the clean, simple forms of the outer surface. In some cases most of the work that has gone into the sculpture is hidden and will remain hidden whenever the work is exhibited.
They answer in kind of ekphrasis approach - questions about the mythology of contemporary human beings, about cultural identity. In their area of research Andrea Hörður and Brynhildur constructs poetic dispositions between fact and fiction, between present and past. Their latest works hover between sculpture and stage, performance and choreography. Jón Proppé, art critic and curator.
Cromolithography ¼
Centaur girl
Andrea Hörður 2012
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo , Brynhildur Pétursdóttir sterling silver
Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
sterling silver
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo , Brynhildur Pétursdóttir sterling silver
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo , Brynhildur Pétursdóttir sterling silver
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Cromolithography ¼
Newborn Pegasus
Andrea Hörður 2012
Photo , Brynhildur Pétursdóttir
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
sterling silver
Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
sterling silver
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo, Brynhildur Pétursdóttirsterling sterling silver
silver
Photo, Brynhildur Pétursdóttirsterling
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
sterling silver
silver
Centaur girl, ash blended concrete and sterling silver Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo, Brynhildur Pétursdóttirsterling sterling silver
silver
Ipsum lorum, ash blended concrete and 18 karat gold Cromolithography - Newborn Pegasus
Photo, Brynhildur Pétursdóttirsterling sterling silver
silver