Close to nothing
Only on my flight back to Amsterdam I was able to put the Icelandic landscape in some sort of context when I watched the documentary Horizon (original title: Sjóndeildarhringur) about Icelandic painter Georg Guðni (1961 - 2011). Coming of age in the rebellious punk scene of the 80s in 1983 Georg Guðni suddenly turned his attention to the Icelandic landscape, at first painting particular mountains but soon painting non-particular mountains and horizons. He put quite some thought into the act of looking itself.
“The spectacular has never inspired me. I am much more inspired by all that is in between. When you are driving to some spectacular destination. There is so much on the way that simply does not catch your eye. The scenery that passes by your window, which means nothing to you. This is what inspires me.”
Landscape near the waterfall Gullfoss.
“In regard to the horizon, it is the nothing that is in between, and it is this nothing that you look at when you forget that you are looking out of the window. You are not looking. You are just thinking. You search for something to see, but you don’t see anything.”
Untitled, 2002
His death is never mentioned in the documentary, but it seems that he took his own life at 50. The male suicide rate in Iceland is high (21,7 per 100.000 people) compared to the female suicide rate (4,7).
The book Strange Familiar - The Work of Georg Gudni was published by Perceval Press (2005), ISBN 0-9747078-9-9.
Condensed water vapour of the geyser Strokkur.