Open May 23, Nervescape, a colorful, organic, and beastly installation by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter with sound by Kría Brekkan in the Clocktower's upper gallery. On view Tues.-Fri., noon-5 pm. From May 23 through Sept. 4, 2012, the Clocktower presents Nervescape, a site-specific exhibition by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir aka Shoplifter. Arnardottir makes sculptures, drawings and installations with various materials, including large amounts of multi-colored synthetic hair, which explore t... Read more

Open May 23, Nervescape, a colorful, organic, and beastly installation by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter with sound by Kría Brekkan in the Clocktower’s upper gallery. On view Tues.-Fri., noon-5 pm.

From May 23 through Sept. 4, 2012, the Clocktower presents Nervescape, a site-specific exhibition by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardottir aka Shoplifter. Arnardottir makes sculptures, drawings and installations with various materials, including large amounts of multi-colored synthetic hair, which explore themes of vanity, self-image, beauty and beastly mythology, as well as notions of obsession and fetish. For her installation at the Clocktower, Arnardottir will use an existing metal structure in the upstairs gallery as a skeleton for a colorful, organic, and at times beastly installation that will engulf the space, and create a fantastical landscape which viewers can enter and interact with.

Mythology from Arnardottir’s upbringing in Iceland serves as an abstract inspiration for her work, along with the idyllic landscape of American painting, and notions of fairytale drama. The installation will be the site for opening performances, and invite viewers to dwell in the artist’s imaginary world of paradoxical impressions such as beauty and horror, nature and the supernatural. Icelandic vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Kría Brekkan provides an elusive, environmental soundscape which will evolve over the course of the exhibition.

Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter is an Icelandic artist based in New York. She makes sculptures, drawings and installations with various materials and found objects that take on themes relating to vanity, self-image, fashion, beauty and popular myths, often touching on notions that come close to obsession or fetish. Her body of work as a whole exists in the gray area between visual art, performance, and design and has been shown and published in many countries and numerous publications. Together with the artist collective a.v.a.f. (assume vivid astro focus) she was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in 2008 to create a large window installation in New York, and she represented Iceland, alongside Hrafnkell Sigurðsson, at the Liverpool Biennial in UK in September 2010. She is the recipient of The Nordic Award in Textiles 2011 and was recently awarded The Prins Eugen Medal for artistic achievement from the King of Sweden.