Creative Space

While becoming an artist, Kjartansson spent several years working in advertising. The large-scale woodcut Creative Space refers to this period in his life and is an homage to the people suffering under the tyranny of creativity. For him, the sign saying “Come in but only with fresh ideas or fresh coffee” is representative of the special, at times somewhat forced sense of humour, enthusiasm and creativity that often characterise this kind of workplace. Kjartansson himself perceived his workplace as joyous yet profoundly melancholic; and it was in this perception of this environment that he found the joy of freedom in his own art practice. The woodcut is related to his works on privileged 21st century uneasiness like “Scandinavian Pain” and “Scenes from Western Culture”. The use of the medium is a nod to the suffering woodcuts of Edward Munch.