Evtede/Reki/Drift – Tomas Colbengtson

You are invited to the opening artist Tomas Colbengtson solo exhibition Evtede/Reki in Deiglan on Saturday, May 5th at 15 – 17. Please join us for light refreshments and the artist will be present. The exhibition is open until May 13th, 14 – 17.

Serigraphs in tree, iron and glass.

The works for the exhibition are mostly done here in Akureyri.

Tomas Colbengtsson is a Sami from Björkvattenet, Tärnaby in North-Sweden, the same latitude as Akureyri. In 1998 and 2012 he was a artist in residence at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and he is a lecturer at Konstfack, University of Arts, Craft and Design, also in Stockholm but that is where he studied and graduated from in 1991.

In Colbengtson’s works he often refers to his upbringing, sami culture and the nordic Scandinavian landscape.

He works in a combination of media, graphic prints, paintings and sculptures in iron and glass, that mirror both modern times and a historical – social events. His art reflects his experience of language and religious denial, as well as trials involving racial prejudice and contempt for the traditional song ‘jojk’. These examples, along with other methods that the government employs to have authority over people and land of the Sami folk.

Colbengtson is a seasoned artist, and this year he has exhibitions in Norway, Sweden, Greenland and the Faroese Islands. Previously, he has held exhibitions in the USA, Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Russia and Scandinavia. This is his first exhibition in Iceland.

Tomas Colbengstson will stay in Gil Artist Residency during the month of May, but the stay and exhibition is a prize for GraN in Akureyri Art Museum in 2015. This was the Gil Society contribution to GraN, Grafik Nordica.

The exhibition is partly sponsored by Akureyri Backpackers.