Week 10 - AOTW : Ragnar Kjartansson

Background :

Ragnar Kjartansson was born in the year 1976 in Reykjavík, the area in which he still resides. He was introduced into visual art and attended the Royal Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. This artist found interest in mixing the repetitious nature of the theater with the new world of performance art. He leads a "double life" as an artist and a musician. Ragnar Kjartansson also focused his attention to performance art. His work was easily recognized for its playful dark nature and its remarkable blend of humor and sadness. Kjartansson utilizes humor as a means to relax the audience and encourage them to consider more serious topics of discussion. Despite his need to combine techniques, this artist is known for the repetition he uses in his artworks.

Content Analysis :

Ragnar uses lots of different types of objects within his work. He has done many types of things such as videos and paintings, they are all of different subjects and a wide range of different paintings. For example, above, he used the ocean, he seems to use enviromental paintings in his works, lots of them revolving the ocean for some reason. Also along with enviromental features, Ragnar uses people for meaning. He also does sculptures and photography, using these different elements to help present and get his idea of art conveyed through these different forms. Ragnar has lots of different styles, he has an extensive range of art forms and uses lots of different subjects within it.

Formal Analysis:

Since Ragnar has a long range of different works, he tends to have a meaning behind all his works. He seems to use darker humor to convey more serious subjects. His paintings are a combination of all the different emotions, from happiness to sadness. They are all meaningful in a funny way at times but in fact are very dark and have messages we all know true but cover with humor. His works seem to convey the rough and sad truth behind many things in life, he uses humor but in fact, it's actually reall upsetting. He uses lots of different styles to get across his funny but sad truth among the world.

Synthesis / My Experience:

Overall, I like some of Ragnar's works while I dislike some others. It is 50/50 for me, he has a darker purpose behind his works and I don't like some of them, but that's his point in these. I like some of his other ones, the content of it is really pretty, the work is amazing and thoughtful, he is passionate about it and I can easily tell. Some of his works like of the enviroment, the ocean, his paintings I love. They are so colored and gorgeous, though I cannot find the true meaning behind them, why he painted these. His work is very subjective and makes you wonder what is the true meaning, why is it funny? His style of humor is darker and uses these emotions to cover the real underlying problem. It's darker than I thought, so I am on the fence.