THORDIS ADALSTEINSDOTTIR

What We Did Yesterday

August 16 - September 21, 2024

JOIN US FOR THE OPENING ON FRIDAY AUGUST 16 AT 17:00 - 19:00!

TEKST PÅ DANSK

In SPECTA we are excited to open What We Did Yesterday, a new solo exhibition by Icelandic artist Thordis Adalsteinsdottir. In a series of new paintings and works on paper, Adalsteinsdottir invites us into a surreal universe populated by both humans and animals, co-existing in various settings from large scale landscapes to small, confined spaces.

However surreal the imagery Thordis Adalsteinsdottir’s paintings seem, they touch on key topics of our time. The climate crisis and our doubtful relation to nature and animals are present in many of her works, and our focus on self-realization and civilization is nodded at through markers such as fine porcelain cups, a British gentleman’s night gown, iPhones and a running man. The themes are intertwined as different sides to the same story. Contemporary life has alienated us to animals and nature, we want to behave as we please in terms of lifestyle and the result in the end is a roaring climate crises and unsustainable lifestyle to both planet, nature and human being.

These elements come into play, in the painting Two Good Kitties and a Woman Birthing a Lamb. Two cats sit at the table, wearing a night gown and a dress, and they look anything else but good kitties. Their looks are cunning and sleek, undoubtedly, they control the situation. On the table is a plate with a woman giving birth to a lamb, and behind one of the chairs grows a giant mushroom. Clearly, nature and animals are taking over, they adapt as far as they please, whereas we fail to see it. We still understand the animals and nature in general to be domesticated on our terms.

In her paintings, Thordis Adalsteinsdottir mixes the news, history, her own everyday life and past experiences with the larger-than-life questions about our being in the world, loss of connectedness to nature and climate crisis. Just as most of us experience life – a puzzle of numerous different issues and actions all at once.

The title of the exhibition What We Did Yesterday points to the mundane and to our habits and way of living. Yesterday, we cleaned the house, we had dinner, we had some wine and cigarettes, or yesterday we went on a touristic holiday. It is not dramatic, and nothing out of the ordinary. On the other side, the title is like a prediction of how we will tell stories of this life in the future – stories about our loss of connectedness to nature and lack of action towards the climate crisis. The way we lived our lives was just how we did things yesterday.

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir (IS, 1975) has exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including The Reykjavik Art Museum, the Knoxville Museum of Art, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo, Den Frie Udstilling in Copenhagen, Konstakademien in Stockholm, the Royal College of Art in London. Most recent solo exhibitions count 2024: Some Of It May Have Started At the River, Nunu fine Art, New York; 2022: Living in the End Times, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles; 2020: Love, Laundry Bear, Nunu Fine Arts, Taipei Taiwan; 2019: Óáreiðanleg vitni Tveir Hrafnar, Reykjavik. Thordis Adalsteinsdottir, Kobayashi gallery, Tokyo.

Thordis Adalsteinsdottir currently works and lives in Normandy, France