COIMBRA.- i8 congratulates Ragnar Kjartansson on his solo exhibition não sofra mais, which is opening as part of the
Anozero – Coimbra Biennial of Contemporary Art solo show '23. The exhibition opened at the Santa Clara-a-Nova Monastery in Coimbra, Portugal, and will be on view through 16 July 2023.
não sofra mais marks Kjartansson's first presentation in Portugal and will feature new works designed specifically for the Santa Clara-a-Nova Monastery, as well as other acclaimed works by the artist.
Ragnar Kjartansson was born in 1976 in Reykjavík, the city where he lives and works. In his work, he engages various artistic mediums, creating video installations, performances, drawings and paintings that draw on numerous historical and cultural references. An underlying pathos and irony connect his works, each deeply influenced by the comedy and tragedy of classical theater. The artist blurs the distinctions between mediums, approaching his painting practice as performance, comparing his films to paintings and his performances to sculptures. Throughout, Kjartansson conveys an interest in beauty and its banality, using repetitive and enduring performance as a form of exploration.
His major solo exhibitions include venues such as the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Reykjavík Museum of Art; Barbican Centre, London; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Park, Washington D.C. ; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; and Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Museum De Pont, Tilburg, among others. Kjartansson participated in The Encyclopedic Palace at the Venice Biennale in 2013; Manifesta 10 in St. Petersburg in 2014; and represented Iceland at the 2009 Venice Biennale. The artist has received the 2019 Ars Fennica Prize, the 2015 Derek Williams Trust Purchase Artes Mundi Prize, and the 2011 Malcolm McLaren Prize for Performa.
