Bio
Ástríður Jósefína Ólafsdóttir is an Icelandic-Italian artist based in Reykjavik, Iceland. She works from her studio in Hafnarhúsið, a vibrant creative hub located above the Reykjavik Art Museum.
She graduated cum laude from the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna in 2013 with a thesis on the psychological portrait and the relationship between artist and model. In 2016 she completed a Masters degree in Visual Arts at the same university, with a project called Móðir mín í kví kví, where she explored icelandic folk songs and tales.
Ástríður starts her exhibition path during her university years and from 2012 she has been exhibiting her Art in personals and collectives in various expo spaces and galleries both in Italy and Iceland.
Ástríður can be defined as a very versatile artist, while always true to her aesthetic. In her work we can find cultural elements from her Nordic background interlacing with the Italian painting tradition and techniques, thus giving birth to an interesting dialogue.
She is mostly a painter, but sometimes she is able to experiment with other types of expressions such as installations and performances to fulfill the intention of the art study.
Portraits and human figures (especially female bodies) are the main subjects, in particular she has been studying the body and the many ways it connects, adapts and interacts with the space around it, often inspired by dancers movements, yoga positions, models and friends.
Since 2014 her attention was drawn towards a circus activity called aerial silks which gave her a new opportunity to study the body and how it reacts to this particular object: two flaps of fabric that descend from the ceiling.
The series is called Panneggio like the old masters technique of painting tissue drapings and studying the anatomy of the fabrics. She starts by representing the body in communication with the fabric until the former vanishes, leaving only a trace on the drape, which becomes a simple object giving infinite possibilities. Then she added light to the game of building and painting sculptures of fabric and the sub series Light Panneggio was born, so the works started looking like planets, suns or dreamlike landscapes, where a strong source of light, like a trapped energy, is trying to break through the fabric.
In her latest exhibition, Harvesting, Ástríður explores the boundary between life and death, stillness and renewal. The series features bodies shrouded in veils, their soft folds tracing the shapes beneath, evoking a sense of protection and mystery. Dark tones, grays and petrol blues, create an atmosphere of contemplative solitude, where the body regenerates. The veils that envelop them are in fact not mere coverings, but true protective mantles, charged with a vital energy capable of imparting new strength. Each painting captures a suspended moment between sleep and wakefulness, life and death. The exhibition also includes smaller works of clustered fabrics, emphasizing the magnetic force and the subtle energy of matter, and alien landscapes called "Inner land-escape" that mirror the interplay of presence and emptiness.
Education
2014 - 2016
Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, Master in Visual Arts.
2010 - 2013
Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, Academic diploma in painting.
Exhibitions
Solo
2024
Harvesting/Uppskera, Gallerí Fold, Reykjavík.
2022
Fellingar, Gallerí Fold, Reykjavík.
2022
Static Dance, Gallerý Núllið, Reykjavík.
2021
Panneggio, Mál og Menníng, Reykjavík.
2019
What the water gave me, Cobalto Lab, Bologna.
2016
Evulazioni Magmetiche, Sala Ovale, Loiano.
2012
Personal exhibition at art gallery “Caffè degli artisti”, Bologna.
Group
2023
Surroundings/ ENVIROMENT, curated by Magma art space, at Palazzo Grifoni, San Miniato, Tuscany, Italy.
2023
Duo Exhibition/Open Studio, Hjartatorgið expo space (ex Þula Gallery), Reykjavík.
2021
Jólagleði, Gallerí Fold, Reykjavík.
2014
Step/014 – Escursioni, curated by Lelio Aiello e Massimo Marchetti at Chiara Pergola’s “Musée de l’OHM”, situated in Museo civico Medievale, Bologna.
2014
Diletto, curated by Luca Caccioni at Cattedra Arti Visive Caccioni, Accademia di belle Arti di Bologna.
2013
Visioni dell’anima, curated by Associazione civico 32 at Cortile Cafè, Bologna.
2012
Ritratto al Museo, event “SBAM!cultura a porte aperte”, live painting exhibition with Walter Materassi at Museo di Zoologia, Bologna.
2012
Dreamers, curated by Daniele Degli Angeli, Luciana Missori and Paola Bussacchetti at Spazio espositivo Teatro del Navile, Bologna.
2012
Incontra l’Arte curated by Ginevra Russo at Gallery I Portici, Bologna.