Erla Thórarinsdottir is born in Reykjavik. She grew up in Iceland, Denmark and Sweden.
Studied at Konstfack in Stockholm and Gerrit Rietveld Akademie in Amsterdam.
Erla was an initiator in the Barbar era in early 80´s Stockholm. She left for New York,
where she breathed and worked for one and a half year, before returning to the roots
in Iceland where she now has her base.
Erla works with space, time and processes where memory, human context and scale is integrated. Within her paintings she has used sheets of silver, building light sensitive
bodies and structures that exposed to light and time and whatever is in the air, oxidize
and transmute according to circumstances on site. In her art the archaic is present, so
is congeniality, and there is a need to communicate contemporaneously to the west
and the east. Her practice incorporates painting, meditation, photography, textile design,
stone works and installations.
She has worked and exhibited in Scandinavia, North Europe, USA, China and India.
Conversation between Birta Gudjónsdottir and Erla Thórarinsdottir in July 2019 at
Erla´s studio in Reykjavik
IN OTHER WORDS ESSAY BY FRANK MATHEIS JULY 2020:
I'm a title. Click to edit me.
© 2012 by Erla Þórarinsdottir. All rights reserved