Icelandic Tapestry; Fire and Ice
- Artist:
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Acrylic on canvas
- Production Date: 2011
- Description: The artist explains: I have long been fascinated by maps and mapping. This work features a map of Iceland (which I have visited several times and exhibited there). Outside the map image are the painted version of 'stitching lines, which describe the pattern of emigration and immigration between Iceland and other countries. In the centre of the work is a distorted map of Scotland (from memory) as I feel our two countries have some things in common. Geological history is one but also this sense of a 'Northern' identity in its inhabitants. One wonders how differently things might have been if Scotland had made alliances with Nordic countries (and Iceland in particular) instead of the 'auld alliance' with France. I embedded an image of my fingerprint, that most personal and distinctive of identifiers, within the map of Scotland to suggest a sense of belonging.
On the right is an abstracted image of the rock layers and geological formations within the landscape. The 'Fire and Ice' in the title is referenced by the red fire of the volcanic eruptions Iceland is famous for and the white of the painting of course refers to the landscape and the island's name.
On a more personal note: one of my earliest memories as a child is of watching my mother apply a particular red lipstick whose name was Fire and Ice; this may be one of the many reasons I am fascinated by the colour red.
And the artist elaborates:
The shadow of climate change has been hovering over us for a long time now and in Shetland, The Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and Lapland the threat I think is felt more keenly. There is also the tense and ever-increasing importance of Arctic Europe in global power politics. Maybe because of its relative isolation I have noticed (on my three visits), that Icelanders seem to live life more freely and even to extremes. It is not unusual for sexual activity to start young and for Icelanders to become parents in their teenage years. I wonder if this relates to a sense of living on the edge of danger, even destruction, in terms of the volcanic activity, a sense of living in the moment.
The Icelandic landscape impresses with a wildness, a clarity and a simplicity which turn the mind to thoughts about our earth and 'deep time'.
There are no trees and the soil is disappearing fast. The volcanic unfolding of its geology is evident in every hillside and valley. The landscape of Iceland‘s interior is scarred and wounded as if the skin of the earth has been torn. One of the greatest fault lines in the crust of the planet runs through the centre of Iceland and the southern coast of Iceland is dominated by ice and fire. - Dimensions: Unframed: 100cm square Framed 110.5cm H x 110.5cm W
- Acquisition Note: Purchase fully funded by The Art Fund and the National Fund for Acquisitions
- Digital Copy:A digital copy exists.
- Location: Store
- Accession Number: 2025.8
- Contact: University of Stirling Art Collection
