Untitled (More or Less)

Hreinn Friðfinnsson's conceptual work is often described as poetic and playful, frequently exploring themes of storytelling, nature, and time. His creations can take various forms: a photograph, a story, a tracing, an atmosphere, a quasi-scientific experiment, or even a simple paint stirring stick imbued with significance. His works are characterized by a sense of duality and reversal, making them elusive and difficult to categorize. Even after their inception, Friðfinnsson's works remain in a state of flux, as he often revisits them for reuse or expansion.

In the 1970s, shortly after relocating to Amsterdam, Friðfinnsson placed an ad in a local art magazine, inviting people to send him their secrets. Over nearly four decades, he collected a fascinating array of personal secrets, which culminated in his solo exhibition "I collected personal secrets" at Kunstverein in 2015. Through his work, Friðfinnsson has continually observed the passage of time through the exploration of the self, with many of these explorations displayed at our biennial Salon Hang.

Born in 1943 in Baer Dölum, Iceland, Hreinn Friðfinnsson lived in Amsterdam from 1971 until 2024. He has exhibited internationally since the 1970s, with solo shows at esteemed institutions such as the National Gallery in Reykjavík, the Serpentine Gallery in London, and Bergen Kunsthall in Norway. A major retrospective titled "To Catch a Fish with a Song: 1964-Today" was held at KW Institute of Contemporary Art in Berlin and Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva from 2019 to 2020. In Amsterdam, venues such as Gallery 845 in the 1970s, Galerie van Gelder in the 1990s, Kunstverein in 2015, and Eenwerk in 2018 have hosted his solo exhibitions.