Some Paintings presents four painters, Boaz Yosef Friedman, Helga Páley, Jóhannes Dagsson and Sara Rossi. With some exceptions, these artists begin their work from what they have gathered, though what they have gathered is different, and what they do with the gatherings differs even more so. Their beginning points, colour, format, scale and space are considered for a sincere response to what they have found.
Boaz Yosef Friedman is a walking mind-map or pinterest board. He collects ideas and imagery and connects them with threads almost like an investigator. Wherever the links are made, the idea is ready for a production process that is planned, precise and quickly executed. When discussing his paintings he talked about circling an off-ness, or a not quite right-ness in the imagery he interprets.
Helga Páley’s paintings perhaps begin in a bathroom or a beach, whether a shell is a recollection found on a shore in Kópavogur, or a facsimile shell on a bathroom tile of a Kópavogur apartment. There are remnants of remembered decoration, played with through layers of translucent colour.
In Jóhannes Dagsson’s Treated Fragments, textural and atmospheric moments stem somewhere from a CD jewel case of a heavy metal album, the glossiness remembering the plastic shrouded cover. These fragments are expanded, recalled and revised on their journey from the handheld to the gallery.
Sara Rossi, in contrast, does not collect material objects. Instead, she gathers ideas that dictate the way she paints. Working from home, with no need for storage space, she carefully considers what she wants to paint, focusing on texture and colour with precision. Her approach to painting is deeply thoughtful, every piece crafted with a clear vision, embodying the essence of her collected ideas. What comes are meetings of abstraction and space, a hint of the surreal and slight formality.