ICELAND: REYKJAVIK STREET ART

June 10-13, 2019

We didn't have to walk very far in Reykjavik the day we got there to discover a vibrant street art scene. I love murals and other forms of outdoor art and am always on the lookout for them when we travel. There was street art aplenty in Reykjavik.

Reykjavik has benefited from a collaboration between Iceland Airwaves (an annual Reykjavik music festival) and Berlin's Urban Nation (a contemporary art museum). The two groups created the Wall Poetry Project to "encourage artistic and creative exchange far beyond the inside of a gallery or the recording studio."  Some of the art in this post is a result of that encouragement.

The first mural I noticed was a few blocks from the Hillgrimmskirkja (the massive cathedral). It is signed "Ugly," which I assume is not a commentary on the work itself but a signature of the Ugly Brothers, Icelandic artists. Other than that, I know nothing about this black-and-white shocker. It is a little bizarre, with a horse either trampling a man or eating his arm, but then most street art is on the strange side:

Speaking of bizarre, as we were looking for our hotel, I noticed this lovely view of a devilish vampire with his fangs about to sink into the throat of a lovely young lass. When I realized that was OUR hotel it was painted on, the Alda Hotel, I wasn't sure if it was safe to sleep there:

Roy Lichtenstein + Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, right? The image was painted by a leading British street artist named "D*Face" in 2016. A caption below the image, written in Icelandic, translates as "I was worst to the one I loved the most." Creepy and hilarious at the same time.

After that, a piece like this is a relief. Created in 1990 by Jón Gunnar Ámason, this stainless steel sculpture looks like a Viking boat with five figures standing up in it with their arms raised. It is entitled Sun Voyager and is meant to convey hope, progress, and freedom:

Here's another view with John getting ready to board:

I have no idea what this is all about, but it certainly is eye-catching:

I can't find anything about this alleyway mural either, but it reminds me of the Disney movie Coco:

I loved this statue, Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat (1998) by Magnús Tómasson, which shows a man walking towards work with his suitcase in hand and his upper torso and head enveloped in a huge chunk of Icelandic volcanic basalt. Government officials are often nameless and faceless but carry the burdens of the country around with them:

And speaking of burdens, how about The Water Bearer (1937), one of the best-known pieces of Ásmundur Sveinsson, a pioneer in Icelandic art. It honors the women who for centuries had to carry water to their homes. When it was originally placed in the heart of Reykjavik in the 1940s, citizens complained about how ugly it was and it was moved to the sculptor's garden. As appreciation for modern art forms grew, so did an appreciation for this statue, and in 2011 it was moved back to the heart of the city:

A ram's head decorates a corrugated wall, a good example of how art makes the ugly at least intriguing, if not beautiful:

One of the original pieces inspired by the Wall Poetry Project in 2015 is located just a block or two from our hotel on the main shopping street, Laugavegur, and is entitled, surprisingly, Laugavegur 23.  Painted by an artist known as Caratoes, it was inspired by a song by the Icelandic band Yija entitled "Ode to Mother."

Someone help me understand how this art is inspired by "Ode to Mother":

By the way, I love how they use this old bike to block off a road to show it is for bicycles and pedestrians only:

I'd love to know the symbolism behind what looks like an American bald eagle in this work by Selur (aka Örn Tönsberg), one of the city's best-known street artists. Is the eagle breaking ice? Perhaps a symbol of global warming? Or is something completely different going on? And what about that black bird in the distance?

This mural showing three ways to tie a tie is on the side of a men's apparel building, so it's more of a billboard than true street art:

Brooklyn artist Elle painted this mural. She was inspired by a song entitled "Twenty-something" by the Icelandic hip hop group Úlfur Úlfur (Wolf Wolf):

Murals are squeezed into narrow spaces, such as this one of a rather unattractive couple on the side of a coffee shop entrance:

. . . and this one of an ocelot (leopard?) slinking around the corner of a building, ready to pounce on a passerby:

Even the posts that hold the street signs are artistic in Reykjavik:

Since coming home and looking into Reykjavik's art scene a little more, I realize that I missed many more pieces of fantastic street art, all within blocks of where I found most of what I have posted here. If I ever go back to Reykjavik, I'm going to make more effort to track down the outdoor art. It would be really fun to go walking with an artist guide, but as an alternative, maps like this one are available on the internet.