More North, a major new gallery space in Tribeca, New York, opened on Thursday. The inaugural exhibition features the “haunting landscapes” of critically-acclaimed Icelandic artist Georg Gudni, running from May 10 to July 12.
The exhibition includes 12 oil paintings and 12 drawings. They provide a contemporary perspective on landscapes drawn from Icelandic nature and offer a unique, painterly interpretation of abstract geometries, as described in a More North press release.
“I don’t make very complicated paintings,” Gudni said. “I like simplicity of form and color, but I find it takes a long time for the painting to grow towards that simplicity and for me to build it up with many layers of paint. The image reaches maturity as my own thoughts and feelings grow.”
Speaking of Gudni’s work, art critic Jon Proppe commented, “Only a very insensitive viewer could fail to experience the magic in Gudni’s painting, even when the subject is not the great and awe-inspiring natural formations that Icelanders never tire of showing to visitors from abroad: the waterfalls, volcanoes and moss-covered lava fields.”
“It is precisely in the modest landscape of the heath that he has managed to capture the core of the Icelandic landscape – not merely the colors or the light, but the very force and meaning of the landscape,” Proppe added.
More North is devoted exclusively to presenting the best of both classic and contemporary art and design from the Nordic countries of Europe. It is located at 39 North Moore Street in New York’s Tribeca.
