INFLUENCES

From Pálína Guðmundsdóttir

The main influences on my art have been changeable in time and also location. In Gothenburg I got to know Nordic art, often melancholic as seen in both faces and landscapes. It was only a short distance to Oslo, where I could view Edward‘s Munch work repeatedly. The expressionism in his work from the time in Berlin inspired me the most. Self-portraits in pencils by Käthe Kollwitz also had strong influence on me. 
I was told by my teachers in AKI in Holland that I was a colourist unlike most of the students, and they pointed out some interesting artists to study. The German expressionists, such as Heckel and Kirchner, as well as Nolde, were my favourites, later the American abstract expressionists Pollock, Newman and Rothko, and for a long time I did paintings based on vertical colour planes, as well as working with materials and textures. Later I started studying the impressionists, Monet in particular. The moment, the light and the colours fascinated me, as well as the feeling for the surroundings and the nature expressed in their paintings.
Later I discovered the portrait, and the Dutch masters, mainly Rembrandt, caught my attention. Marlene Dumas (my teacher in AKI) renewed the portrait, a form that was not considered of much worth for some years. Even though nothing in my art is similar to my former teacher Marina Abramovic the mystical and profound aspect of her work has influenced me.
As my art has continued to find its own course I find myself connecting more with ancient art, such as the Italian grave-paintings, where the faces are seen from the front, in an objective way. My visits to crypts in Egypt and Rome have also left their mark, perhaps particularly in the works based on genealogical research.