Tumi Magnússon: Paintings of Time and Videos of Sound

Paintings of Time and Videos of Sound
Vortrag des Künstlers Tumi Magnússon

A discussion of some of of the artists recent installations, accompanied by an introduction of some of his older works to show his development through different media, and his attitude to art making.

The works of Tumi Magnússon often concentrate on the simple, boring occurrences of daily life. They are about the simple logic and laws of nature inherent in these occurrences, and the twists we give them to make them bearable and interesting. They are also about using these daily incidents as a tool for thinking about something entirely different, like time, speed, sound and perception.

The use of different kinds of media, such as photographs, video, sound and painting are an important element in his work, and he sees this as a way of retaining freshness, avoiding technical virtuosity, and allowing the potential of one media to influence the other.  His works are imbued with a sense of humour that opens them up towards the spectator and gives them a certain lightness.

Tumi Magnússon was born in Iceland in 1957. He studied art at The Icelandic College of Art and Crafts, and at AKI (Academie voor Beeldende Kunst) in the Netherlands. His first solo exhibition was in 1981. Since then he has exhibited extensively, for instance in The Living Art Museum, Reykjavík, The Nordic Art Centre, Helsinki, Centre PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland, The Sao Paulo Biennial, MACMO Uruguay, and The National Gallery of Iceland. He was a professor at the Iceland Academy of Art from 1999 to 2005, and at the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 2005 to 2011.