MALATJDG A L L E R Y

Pain Thing

GEORGÓSKAR

MALATJDG A L L E R Y

GEORGÓSKAR

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Detail: Das Kapital, 2021Detail: Monet’s Garden, 2021

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JD Malat Gallery is pleased to present Pain Thing, a solo exhibition by Icelandic artist Georg Óskar. Pain Thing is a play on words, which refers to both the act of painting and the resulting challenges in-volved in the process.

On display from 13 October until 13 No-vember 2021, Pain Thing coincides with the much-anticipated return of Frieze London and Frieze Masters 2021, mark-ing a defining moment for the city’s cre-ative community as it emerges from the global pandemic.

Pain Thing presents an introspective body of work comprising 16 new paint-ings. Infused with a distinct sarcastic twist, Óskar’s artistic practice is a visual diary of his personal observations of the mundane. Óskar’s work is saturated with humour and wit as well as a melan-cholic quality that channels the artist’s long-standing interest in the extremes of human existence.

The quotidian, fleeting moments of the everyday life, inspire the work of the Ice-landic artist. Relatable and real, Óskar’s paintings offer his often sarcastic, but al-ways genuine observations of the mun-dane. The artist absorbs something from each day, glimpses into the human con-dition, and visually translates this in his paintings. The subject matters are both a simplified caricature of humankind as well as an extensive analysis of human emotions such as grief, pain, joy, and vi-

tality. Óskar aims to examine and meas-ure the space between the extremes that go from the good to the bad, from hap-piness to loneliness; and locate the nec-essary equilibrium in life. Óskar’s work represents a balancing act. Allowing mul-tiple entry points, it invites the viewers to take time and space to reflect on the ver-nacular and the complexity of contempo-rary life.

Although Óskar has been creating art since his early teens: doing drawings, doodles, spray paintings, playing mu-sic, and recreating art from his favour-ite skateboard brands. It wasn’t until his early twenties that he had his very first painting class in school. This was a pivot-al moment for the artist: ‘I fell in love with the whole thing, the brush and the paint, I just felt this was something I had been longing for without really knowing about it.’ Óskar enrolled at a private art school that same summer to pursue his life’s calling. He graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from Akureyri School of visual arts in 2009 and subsequently obtained his MFA from the Faculty of the Fine Art, Music and Design in Bergen, Norway in 2016.

In the span of the 17 years of his artistic career, Óskar’s work evolved immensely from being ‘pretty waves of colours’, as the artist explains himself, to becoming more substantial, introspective with a murkier and more muted colour palette.

Óskar allows ideas to pour out onto the canvas organically, paints over, some-times multiple times until he reaches a transcendent connection with the work – until that focal moment of deep and per-sonal connection, it’s all about destruc-tion and construction.

Having experimented with different ma-terials, and often using a range of mixed materials in his paintings, the artist’s ma-terial of choice is oil. Óskar explains: ‘I want the thickness and the richness the oil has to offer; I want things to get messy so I can organize that mess.’ Influenced by the Northern climate and sometimes sombre atmosphere of Scandinavian landscapes, Óskar’s raw brushstrokes and muted palette reflects on this isolation.

Óskar draws inspiration from the energy and raw nature of artists such as Paul Mc-Carthy, Armen Eloyan, Bjarne Melgaard, Rita Ackermann. However, the main source of inspiration for Óskar is music: ‘Music is such a rich emotional genera-tor which I use all of the time in my own work.’

Having exhibited internationally in var-ious cultural hubs including Spain, Ger-many, China, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland, Pain Thing marks Georg Óskar’s debut solo exhibition in the UK.

Georg Óskar currently lives and works in Oslo, Norway.

Detail: Fairy Tale Love Story, 2021

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Georg Óskar in his studio, 2021.

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Fairy Tale Love Story, 2021 Oil on canvas87 x 76 in220 x 195 cm

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Not at all, several Days, more than half the Days, nearly every Day, 2021 Oil on canvas83 x 74 in210 x 190 cm

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Mozart, 2021 Oil, acrylic, spray on canvas77 x 77 in195 x 195 cm

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Snufkin, 2021 Oil, acrylic, spray on canvas77 x 77 in195 x 195 cm

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Das Kapital, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas77 x 77 in195 x 195 cm

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Has Somebody Seen Mikki, 2021 Oil on canvas77 x 77 in195 x 195 cm

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Monet’s Garden, 2021 Oil on canvas77 x 74 in195 x 185 cm

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Drowning Mickey, 2021 Oil on canvas71 x 74 in180 x 190 cm

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Parrots, 2021 Oil, acrylic, spray on canvas77 x 67 in195 x 170 cm

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My Brain is Soft And Full of Sweets II, 2021 Oil on canvas77 x 63 in195 x 160 cm

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Untitled, 2021 Oil and acrylic on canvas71 x 71 in180 x 180 cm

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The existentialism man, 2021 Oil, acrylic on canvas69 x 69 in175 x 175 cm

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Society, 2021 Oil on canvas71 x 63 in180 x 160 cm

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Long time no see, 2021 Oil on canvas71 x 63 in180 x 160 cm

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William, 2021 Oil on canvas67 x 59 in170 x 150 cm

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Comfortably Numb, 2021 Oil on canvas71 x 74 in180 x 190 cm

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Georg Óskar Giannakoudakis CVb. 1985- Akureyri, Iceland.

Education

2014-2016 Bergen Academy of Art and Design/MFA, Bergen, Norway2007-2009 Akureyri School of Visual Art, Akureyri, Iceland2007-2008 Lahti Polytechnic of Fine Arts, Lahti, Finland

Solo Exhibitions

2020 Your Dream is Dead, Noplace, Oslo, Norway2019 Untitled Everything, Richard Koh Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2019 I Felt Bad, but I Feel a Little Bit Better Now, Abject gallery, Newcastle, England2019 Index 1/2, XC.HuA Gallery, Beijing, China2018 The Living Room at Home, Alþýðuhúsið á Siglufirði, Iceland2018 Notes from Underground, EXCAVO Fine Arts at Central Studios, London, Canada2018 The Pink Elephant, Galerie 95, Bienne, Switzerland2017 Jón Óskar & Georg Óskar, Tveir Hrafnar Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland2017 Appetite for midnight, Tveir Hrafnar Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland2017 Be-Four, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland2016 Dallas City, Berg Culture House, Dalvík, Iceland2015 Lust for Life, SÍM, Reykjavík, Iceland2014 Mjólkurbúðin, Akureyri, Iceland2014 Reykjavík Art Gallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland2013 Salur Myndlistafélagsins, Akureyri, Iceland2011 Static, Mjólkurbúðin, Akureyri, Iceland2010 Debussy, Populus Tremula, Akureyri, Iceland2010 Eiðar Art Center, Eiðar, Iceland2009 Lollipopp, Kaffi karólína, Akureyri, Iceland2008 Untitled, Deiglan, Akureyri, Iceland

Group Exhibitions

2021 Summer Exhibition 2021, JD Malat Gallery, London, UK2020 Plenty of Nothing, with Qi Yafei, Migrant Bird Space, Berlin, Germany2019 I Feel as I Have Been Asleep, Asleep so Long, Kaktus, Akureyri, Iceland2019 Ouverture, Altro Mondo Creative Space, Manila, Philippines2018 Contemporary Chaos, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway2018 Insolence: The Prerogative of Youth, Dada Post, Berlin, Germany2018 Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland2018 Common People, Gallery Tsjalling, Groningen, Netherlands2017 Aprestadora Gallery, Barcelona, Spain2017 Accessing the Memory, I: Project Space, Beijing, China2016 HEX, Bergen Kunsthalle, Bergen, Norway

Georg Óskar Giannakoudakis CVb. 1985- Akureyri, Iceland.

Education

2014-2016 Bergen Academy of Art and Design/MFA, Bergen, Norway2007-2009 Akureyri School of Visual Art, Akureyri, Iceland2007-2008 Lahti Polytechnic of Fine Arts, Lahti, Finland

Solo Exhibitions

2020 Your Dream is Dead, Noplace, Oslo, Norway2019 Untitled Everything, Richard Koh Fine Arts, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia2019 I Felt Bad, but I Feel a Little Bit Better Now, Abject gallery, Newcastle, England2019 Index 1/2, XC.HuA Gallery, Beijing, China2018 The Living Room at Home, Alþýðuhúsið á Siglufirði, Iceland2018 Notes from Underground, EXCAVO Fine Arts at Central Studios, London, Canada2018 The Pink Elephant, Galerie 95, Bienne, Switzerland2017 Jón Óskar & Georg Óskar, Tveir Hrafnar Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland2017 Appetite for midnight, Tveir Hrafnar Gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland2017 Be-Four, Akureyri Art Museum, Iceland2016 Dallas City, Berg Culture House, Dalvík, Iceland2015 Lust for Life, SÍM, Reykjavík, Iceland2014 Mjólkurbúðin, Akureyri, Iceland2014 Reykjavík Art Gallerí, Reykjavík, Iceland2013 Salur Myndlistafélagsins, Akureyri, Iceland2011 Static, Mjólkurbúðin, Akureyri, Iceland2010 Debussy, Populus Tremula, Akureyri, Iceland2010 Eiðar Art Center, Eiðar, Iceland2009 Lollipopp, Kaffi karólína, Akureyri, Iceland2008 Untitled, Deiglan, Akureyri, Iceland

Group Exhibitions

2021 Summer Exhibition 2021, JD Malat Gallery, London, UK2020 Plenty of Nothing, with Qi Yafei, Migrant Bird Space, Berlin, Germany2019 I Feel as I Have Been Asleep, Asleep so Long, Kaktus, Akureyri, Iceland2019 Ouverture, Altro Mondo Creative Space, Manila, Philippines2018 Contemporary Chaos, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Norway2018 Insolence: The Prerogative of Youth, Dada Post, Berlin, Germany2018 Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland2018 Common People, Gallery Tsjalling, Groningen, Netherlands2017 Aprestadora Gallery, Barcelona, Spain2017 Accessing the Memory, I: Project Space, Beijing, China2016 HEX, Bergen Kunsthalle, Bergen, Norway2016 Whatever Works!!, Tveir hrafnar gallery, Reykjavík, Iceland2014 Artalavista, Salur Myndlistafélagsins, Akureyri, Iceland2012 Rætur, Ketilhús, Akureyri, Iceland

Art Fairs

2019 Art Noord, gallery with Tsjalling, Netherlands2019 Kunstrai, gallery with Tsjalling, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Articles

2019 Icelandic artist’s cartoonish, if not ghoulish, portraits offer stark humor andtruth, article by Rouwen Lin, The Star, Star Media Group

2018 Notes from Underground, Article by Nida Home Doherty, Centred.ca2018 Thin line between humor and truth with Georg Oskar, interview by Chase

Dougherty, ArtMaze Magazine, London, United Kingdom2018 Painting is full of surprises and puzzles, interview by Anna Kamensky,

Nyartnews, New York, United States

2018 Winter issue 6, ArtMaze Magazine, London, United Kingdom2016 Issue 13, Freshpaint Magazine

This catalogue was produced by JD Malat Gallery for the exhibition Pain Thing, by Georg Óskar.

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