Arnor Bieltvedt

Untitled Arnor Bieltvedt

Oil and Mixed Media on Linen 40" x 30" $3000

My work displays a radical and free use of color, as well as experimentation with composition, scale, and the structure of the painting. Anticipating an interaction of color while moving the paint around, I apply the paint directly to the canvas rather than a palette, saturated, with a focus on one color or two. To understand light and space, I first challenge myself to paint only in black and white. For me, color becomes the anchor, creating equilibrium and interaction. Like in the unspoiled yet surreal Nordic landscape of Iceland, a country of water and many different shades of blue, I know that the colors in nature, combined with natural light, cannot be truly replicated, so I paint their opposite. I imagine color in the middle of the eye’s retina and seek the unspoiled nature of color to represent a pure expression of humanity and life. 11 Contact information for this artist can be found on page 86.

Untitled Arnor Bieltvedt

Oil and Mixed Media on Linen 40" x 30" $3000

The contrasting volcanic and glacier-shaped landscapes of my native Iceland, and the light and flora of Southern California where I live now, are part of the visual memories I draw upon while painting and drawing. Like a generation of Icelandic artists before me (Nína Tryggvadóttir, Johannes Kjarval and Kristján Davídsson are influences), the intensity of these landscapes inspires me to perceive deeply, to look for elements that stand out and how things connect as a whole. Working abstractly, my paintings express my admiration for nature, its beauty on the surface and its underlying force and strength. Abstraction allows me to focus on color relationships and to organize essential impressions and memories into painted poetry.

Magnolia Arnor Bieltvedt

Watercolor on Paper 40" x 30" $2800

I tend to paint quickly across the canvas, my gestures expressing feeling through intense mark-making and varied contrasts and rhythms that form an unrestrained and confident, harmonious whole. There is a struggle between figure and ground, paint and surface, which I cannot resolve, so I immerse myself in the paint, painting physically and emotionally, an action

I attribute to the influence of abstract painters Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, and my idol,

Vincent van Gogh. And, like them, when I paint I am not aware of myself, the painting is telling me what to do. “Magnolia” is an expressionistic rendering of the magnolia tree in our garden.

Watching it go through its changes throughout the year inspired me to capture its life, energy and beauty. It felt like painting the portrait of an old friend. 13 Contact information for this artist can be found on page 86.