INGA TORFADOTTIR

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"Gjörningar"

Inga Torfadóttir, "Gjörningar", 2014, monotype, 12" x 17".

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"Hugmynd"

Inga Torfadóttir, "Hugmynd", 2014, monotype with chine collé, 12" x 17".

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INGA TORFADOTTIR

By Portia Priegert

Winnipeg artist Inga Torfadóttir’s latest monoprints are abstracts that reflect on the natural world and the circle of life, but she’s also known for linocuts about Norse mythology.

Torfadóttir, who immigrated to Canada in the 1970s after attending art school in her native Iceland, began the older series after a book about the Vikings rekindled memories of her father’s stories. “The old fables and tales that my great-grandmother passed on to my father were laden with references to heathen times,” she says.

Her ancestors, who venerated trees and waterfalls and believed spirits could take on the likeness of man or beast, created a great literature – the sagas – epic accounts of feuds and battles, love and fate. Those stories inspired her to depict figures with angular, mask-like faces – sad-eyed women and men clutching spears and shields – all of it mysterious and intriguing.

Torfadóttir will show her new abstracts this fall at Grollé Fine Art in Winnipeg. She believes the work owes much to the spirit of place as well as to the ancient Icelandic language. “Its infinite capacity to describe even the most minuscule of experiences, as well as any imaginable nuance of change in weather, seasons or even the colours of the rainbow, has always intrigued and inspired me – to the point where I have felt a need to translate those feelings into a personal and visual language.”

Inga Torfadóttir’s show runs Sept. 25 to Oct. 5 at Grollé Fine Arts in Winnipeg. She is also represented by the Soul Gallery in Winnipeg. Her work sells for $400 to $2,000.