The only way around is through brings together two strands that have characterised Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson’s artistic practice from the outset: drawing and performance. In his drawings, the artist works like a craftsman, methodically and within the fixed confines of the picture plane. In his performances, however, Styrmir Örn is more akin to a gardener, allowing his surroundings and the atmosphere to determine the course of events.

The exhibition can be seen as a survey of the artist’s large-scale drawings produced over the past ten years. All the works are the same size; some were made intermittently over a period of several years, while others were completed in a single burst. Suspended from the ceiling of the gallery, they form an installation around which visitors can move. From the craftsman’s point of view, the installation becomes a strange kind of architecture, with the works functioning at times like walls that obstruct the view and at others like gateways opening onto previously unknown paths. Seen through the eyes of the gardener, however, they resemble a forest, where the drawings merge into one another to form a tangled thicket in which exotic flowers grow.

At the same time, the installation provides the setting for a new performance by the artist, recalling the scenography of theatre or ballet, to be presented at the exhibition opening. The performance will subsequently be presented as a video work alongside the drawings. In the exhibition, Styrmir Örn sets out to bring together the contrasting approaches of drawing and performance and to find a meeting point between the still and the dynamic. In doing so, he raises questions about the form and function of visual art: can a drawing be brought to life and what remains once a performance is over?

Styrmir Örn Guðmundsson (b. 1984) works with performance, drawing, sculpture and music, bringing different media and forms together in a single narrative. What begins as a drawing on paper may develop into a sculpture or a piece of music, which in turn becomes material for a performance. The stories the artist tells have neither beginning nor end, inviting audiences into a magical world in which anything can happen. Styrmir Örn studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and completed his postgraduate studies at the Sandberg Instituut in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2012. His work has been widely exhibited in recent years, both in Iceland and internationally.