Shoplifter (real name Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir) is a New York-based contemporary artist who works with synthetic and natural hair. Shoplifter is known for her sculptures, wall murals, and site-specific installations and has shown her work worldwide and collaborated with artists from various countries.
SP:A brief introduction about yourself?
HA: My name is Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir, also known as Shoplifter. I’m an artist from Iceland and I’ve been living in New York since I started my MFA at the School of Visual Arts in 1994.
SP: What are you currently working on? Do you have any upcoming shows?
HA: I’m preparing for a large scale installation called Chromo Zone to open in September at the Kulturhuset in Stockholm, Sweden. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 there were many projects that had to be rescheduled for next year or canceled, but I continue to get quite a lot of invites to exhibit my work all over the world and so I’m reviewing and working on scheduling without putting too much on my plate.
SP: You were a part of the Venice Biennale 2019, how did that fair and could your VB artwork briefly to us?
HA: I represented my home country at the Icelandic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale with my largest project to date. A warehouse in Giudecca was transformed into cavernous interior and the inside of the building entirely covered in synthetic hair, manipulated into multicolored fuzzy textured walls, ceilings and carpeted floors, a three-dimensional painting. I commissioned the band HAM to create a soundscape for the piece. My installation was a huge success both on a personal and professional level as I managed to execute exactly what I intended to create, so all the careful planning and preparation, my team, and my support system worked brilliantly. The artwork, named Chromo Sapiens, made a big impression and we had a great number of visitors at the Icelandic Pavilion, even though it was situated in Giudecca which is a bit of a journey away from the Giardini and main exhibition area. I am extremely happy with how the work was received and couldn’t be happier with the overall experience.
SP: What can you tell us about Nervescape or the beast as you sometimes refer to it?
HA: Nervescape installations are a series of work I’ve installed widely around the globe including Norway, Australia, USA, and more. I use hair, albeit synthetic, and I’m quite intrigued by this material for so many years now and it all started with me realizing that the hair that grows on our body is the remnant of the beast in us, it’s wild and we are constantly trying to tame it to have it be the way we prefer. It brings out the creativity in everyone as we have to choose a hairstyle and take care of this wild mane that keeps on growing and is the crown of our identity.
SP: A lot of your work addresses themes of vanity and our obsession with self-image. With that in mind, what do you think of Instagram (and social media in general) being a tool for many emerging artists today in getting their work out?
HA: Artists should be adapting to any presentation possibilities of their choice and it’s great that it’s not so exclusive anymore. If your work is good, and widespread popularity is good and hopefully, more people can live off their work that way. I consider my work to be pop art. I’m into popular culture, constantly obsessing about human behavior and our modern city tribes and cultures that use self-image and the beautiful energy of vanity to create a more diverse and interesting world.
SP: You work with an extraordinary color palette for many of your projects. What is the process of deciding which colors to use?
HA:To me, colors are incredibly important, for my sanity and for happiness and to be brave and use bold colors comes naturally to me from a very early age as I would want to dress in colorful clothes and choose things that were unique and out of the ordinary. I think that we respond to different colors in different ways, I’m inspired by psychology and neuroscience and to me, there isn’t a color you don’t like if you just look at it for long enough. You can see the beauty in the strangest combinations, your eye and mind change your perception of things constantly and experience is fluent and flexible. I want to surround myself and the viewer with fields of colors, bright and loud as I believe it triggers the neurological receptors in our brains and releases endorphins and dopamine, making us happier and our lives better, the future more exciting.
Image Courtesy: Berglind Johannsdottir, Reykjavik Art Museum and Petri Virtanen
Find out more about the artist:
https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2019/national-participations/iceland
https://artmuseum.is/exhibitions/hrafnhildur-arnardottir-shoplifter-chromo-sapiens
