ARoS presents a major survey of exuberant and epic pop collages and paintings by celebrated Icelandic artist, Erró

In April, ARoS will open the most significant survey of works by the celebrated Icelandic artist Erró. The exhibition The Power of Images, a collaboration between ARoS and the Reykjavík Art Museum, has been organised by curators Danielle Kvaran and Gunnar Kvaran together with the team at ARoS. Erró, known as ’the father of the painted collage ’, examines the globalized society. Its feverish and endless flow of images and information act as both source and inspiration for his image universe and works. The exhibition Erró - The Power of Images is open from the 1st April until the 3rd September 2023.

Erró - The Power of Images reflects upon the long and unique career of one of the most prominent figures in the European avant-garde in the 1950s and 1960s who has continued to explore his major themes of society in an impressive 70-year career.

Born Guðmundur Guðmundsson (b. 1932) and adopting the name Erró, the artist spent time in France and USA where he mixed with other artists exploring popular imagery and its translation from the world of advertising and mass media to artistic production – a brief artistic era known as proto-Pop and Pop Art. Works included in The Power of Images are drawn from Erró's enormous art donation to the city of Rejkjavík, which today consists of nearly 4,000 works.

“We are proud that ARoS has earned the honour of presenting Erró's entire colorful and ebullient universe to Danish audiences. It is fantastic to be able to exhibit such an epoch-making artist as Erró who has left a distinctive mark on art history with his endless curiosity in society and the material found within it. His experimental approach creates a universal timelessness in works where political agendas, deconstruction of cultural stereotypes, and reflections upon our rapidly developing, globalized society provide food for thought across generations,” says Rebecca Matthews, Museum Director at ARoS.

The never-ending process of creating an artistic practice
The exhibition shows Erró's artistic process, continuously renewed and enriched throughout his career. His oeuvre ranges from art and film to comics, science and technology, history and politics, advertising, and propaganda. Erró has reshaped and deconstructed his visual material to create an art that challenges authority and expresses a playful and a sharp political and artistic talent.

As the ’father of the painted collage’ Erró has developed a satirical, colorful, and ebullient saga of the consumer society and global politics. His detailed and often disturbing works freely mix images from different print sources, deconstruct cultural stereotypes, and manage to mix past with present and fiction with reality.

His place in art history
Erró was one of the first Icelandic artists who gained attention on the international art scene. The exhibition The Power of Images provides a comprehensive overview of an artist who has captivated his audience with wide-ranging ideas and visual media for more than 70 years. His well-deserved place in the European art history has been achieved through his work with everything from performances, videos, graphics and collages to larger works in public spaces and paintings of any scale.

“It's unique to work with an artist as rich in imagery as Erró. Erró has produced a wide variety of works and motifs that reference each other across time, methods, and media. His works challenge our boundaries – both aesthetically, culturally, and politically. Erró has always been motivated by a desire of making his works accessible to the public, and now ARoS can declare itself as part of this vision,” says the collaborating curator of the exhibition The Power of Images at ARoS, Ellen Drude Langvold.

Erró - The Power of Images has been created in a Nordic, inter-institutional collaboration with Reykjavík Art Museum. The exhibition is produced by Reykjavík Art Museum with the curators Danielle Kvaran and Gunnar Kvaran and planned in collaboration with ARoS Aarhus Art Museum.

More information on the exhibition can be found at www.aros.dk

Erró – The Power of Images opens on the 1st April on Level 5. The exhibition can be experienced until the 3rd September 2023.

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Sofie Klindrup · sofie@have.dk · +45 25 48 37 49
Morten Hopballe · morten@have.dk · + 45 31 35 30 07