In the vibrant world of contemporary art, few manage to capture the ephemeral while making it timeless. Arnar Sólberg is one of those elusive artists whose canvases seem to vibrate between shadow and light, between matter and absence. His work, at the crossroads of figurative and abstract art, tells fragmented stories, leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps.
Passage to the Unknown
Arnar Sólberg .2022
An Extraordinary Journey
Born in 1987 in a small town in northern Iceland, Arnar Sólberg grew up surrounded by landscapes of raw and silent beauty. Fascinated by the northern lights and the long winter nights, he developed an early obsession with light and its impact on human perception.
After studying at the Reykjavik Academy of Fine Arts, he built a reputation as an enigmatic painter, working mainly on monumental formats, playing with contrasts between deep darkness and almost supernatural luminescent touches. His first exhibitions caught the attention of critics, who saw in him an explorer of human emotions through texture and color.
The Imprint of the Invisible
What sets Arnar Sólberg apart is his ability to play with the invisible. In his works, evanescent silhouettes seem to emerge from nothingness, oscillating between appearance and dissolution. His technique is based on the use of phosphorescent pigments that react differently to lighting, giving his paintings a unique dynamism depending on the time of day.One of his most famous works, “The Whisper of Shadows”, exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2023, is a vast canvas where barely sketched faces seem to emerge and disappear depending on the angle and brightness. This play on perception invites the viewer to interact with the artwork, to return to it, to seek what they believe they have seen.
Resonance of Silence
Threshold of Existence
The Echo of Waiting
A Philosophy of the Intangible
For Arnar Sólberg, art is an experience rather than a static object. “Our memories, our emotions are in constant motion. My work seeks to capture this fluidity,” he explains in a rare interview. His minimalist approach to composition contrasts with the sensory complexity of his works.
Inspired by artists like James Turrell and Pierre Soulages, he also explores the notion of time in painting. Some of his creations incorporate thermosensitive inks that alter the appearance of the artwork based on ambient temperature, further blurring the line between what is fixed and what is not.
The Future of a Master of the Ephemeral
Today, Arnar Sólberg remains a discreet yet influential figure in contemporary art. His traveling exhibitions, often presented in spaces where light is meticulously controlled, attract an ever-curious audience eager to discover his interplay of shadow and light.
Some consider him a pigment illusionist, others a philosopher of light. One thing is certain: Arnar Sólberg continues to push the limits of our perception, and his art, as elusive as it is captivating, lingers in the mind long after the canvases have vanished into darkness.
