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SIGMARSSON, SIGTRYGGUR (BERG) - For Einar Jonsson (1874-1954)

Format: BOOK & CD-R
Label & Cat.Number: Some (no catalogue nr.)
Release Year: 2014
Note: "I'm on holiday - From what? - .. everyting" - another lovely weird item by the lovely weird SIGTRYGGUR SIGMARSSON: a self published, full colour printed catalogue / magazine collecting all kinds of art (photos, drawing, paintings, poems) by him collected 1997-2014; edition of 100 numbered copies, the first 50 copies incl. a CD-R with a 14 min. shimmering drone piece dedicated to the Icelandic sculptor EINAR JONSSON; 56 pages, A4 format
Price (incl. 19% VAT): €16.00


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"Perhaps by now a somewhat forgotten fact, but Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson may be best known as a member of Stillupsteypa (and for their collaborations with BJ Nilsen), but he's also a visual artist and once the 'owner' of a record label, called Some. He tells me this package is a sort of revival of that label. The book at hand is a catalogue of artwork from the years 1997 to 2014. Lots of drawings, photos of performances, but also photos of objects, pictures of the artist as a child, letters, and some words, but no expert insight essay. Which I guess is a good thing. It leaves some of the mystery in tact and has a fine naive impact on the viewer, perhaps establishing him as an outsider. The book is published in an edition of 100 copies, half of which are sold and the other half comes with a fourteen-minute piece of music, called 'For Einar Jonsson (1874-1954)'. He was Iceland's first sculptor, who drew inspiration from the Icelandic folklore heritage, but also using mythological and religious motifs (I am quoting a website here). Later on he rejected all classical art tradition and enamoured theosophy. The fourteen-minute piece is a way too short for my taste - and for the book. I wanted to sit down, play the music and all along look at the images, but I had to put the piece on repeat. Sigmarsson uses what seems to me the sound of a church organ, and turns it into this heavily processed piece of drone music. A bit stretched out, many layers and all along the source material can be recognized, which gives the piece, perhaps, also a religious motif. It's the kind of drone music we know Sigmarsson do very well, and here he doesn't disappoint us either. Except of course that it could have been twice as along - at least. Putting it on repeat is not the same thing, but will do as well. Hopefully more to come!" [FdW/Vital Weekly]