Biography

Sóley Ragnarsdóttir’s practice evolves around a hyper-ornamented artistic universe in which acrylic and epoxy intermingle with amber, seashells, and ocean-sharpened glass pieces play a significant role.
Ragnarsdóttir’s sculptural approach to painting allows for a pictorial language to move from the canvas out to all the elements in the space. In this way the artist creates a fascinating aestheticized world flirting with kitsch and bearing traces of the Arts & Crafts traditions of handicraft, as well as of the artist’s Icelandic origins. The decorative traditions of handicraft have long been positioned as an opposite to the elevated fine arts, but Ragnarsdóttir shakes things up and focuses our attention on the artistic value of the decorative as something also entitled to take up space in the scope of contemporary art

Sóley Ragnarsdóttir (b. 1991, DK/IS) lives and works in Thy, Northern Jutland. She holds an MFA from Städelschule, Frankfurt, Germany (2014–19) and has exhibited at Städel Museum (Frankfurt), Historisches Museum (Frankfurt), Jean Claude Maier (Frankfurt), Kunstforum (Darmstadt) and Overgaden (CPH) among other places.