Katrin Fridriks

Katrin Elisabet Fridriksdottir or Katrin Fridriks (born 9 August 1974) is a painter, develops conceptual art and installation work. Born in Reykjavík, she lives and works currently in Paris and Luxemburg.

Katrin was raised in Luxemburg, spoke at very young age several languages, left at the age of 12 to Frankfurt , Germany with her mother & stepfather (speaking 13 languages). Studied Japanese with a lot of curiosity to the calligraphic writings, forming, cubing letters together, brought great influences on her actual works.Natural elements–water, earth, air, fire–and cosmic, energies and synergies that conceal and develop, fusional relations or explosives that the man maintains with the matter, form of the physics is her first inspiration.

Infinite spaces or depths, atoms or free electrons, Fridriks paintings are all accelerators like elementary particle, which cosmic space would enter in collision (Big Bang ) with the infinitely small to the infinitely big.Cosmopolitan, Katrin lived in Luxembourg, Germany, USA and today in Paris, is working in the result of interbreedings, with the junctions of several cultures. Her work develops a visual universe & a language in which crosses the Japanese Calligraphy, Pop-Art, the Graff through Concept of installations works in a resolutely urban colored esthetics.

It releases from her painting a power which can just as easily be that irruptive volcanoes of her native land, immanent, streets of the capitals where she measured, drawing an energy “hardcore” which is quite obvious

Urban iconoclast, Katrin Fridriks: « Reacts to the excitement which gets the urban life by throwing (launching) motives in a fast stream of consciousness. Her calligraphy (...) raise (...) of a universal writing which circulates in the world village suburbs »

(Dr. Jeanne S. Willette, University of Claremont, California–USA)

Influences & Inspiration

Much inspired by the Architectural world and no good in mathematics, Fridriks went to a private boarding school in the south of Germany (among families Schlecker & Turn und Taxi). However she never finished school, promptly left Germany in 1994 to visit Paris for few months, continuing personal research and connected with a gallery in 1995-1996 at Place de Vosges exhibiting a permanent solo show 2 years contract. Katrin meets Erro in 1996, the Icelandic postmodern artist - Gudmundur Gudmundsson for the first time; she only knew several years later that she was related to him in 3rd generation.

In 1998 Absolut Vodka proposes a Solo show at Bergmont station Los Angeles. Katrin got married to Jarel Penn Portman, son of an American architect.

Strong influences were carried after being married in Los Angeles, back to Paris April 15th 2003 changed Katrin’s view and approach to her work after discussing with the art critic Pierre Restany , on how installing her paintings as an architectural Landscape. 2004 Erro’s personal exhibition, Katrin offers him 3 works named “Thunder from an hero–un éclair venant d’un héros” to a surprise, until some months later Erro gave the Museum of Reykjavík in permanent collection, she had never exhibited yet in Iceland.

Meeting in 2005 Mr. Jean-Michel Foray (Expert Marc Chagall ) helped her to structure and paste her sense to paint “volume, depth and space” for her personal exhibition at the Museum Palais Bénédictine “mangeurs d’étoiles–Star eaters” scheduled in 2007. The French architect Arnaud Bouet , architectural firm BVL and former Minister of Youth & Sports Mr. Jean-François Lamour gave her the opportunity to collaborate on her first public order, a fresco named « Red Sea–Mer Rouge » 80 m² (10 x 8 x 0,4 m) constructed by Bouygues , Cirmad Grand Sud for the new Olympic Stadium of Nîmes , commissioned by the French government.

Works

Katrin will participate at the Liverpool Biennial 2008 “made up risk boxes” (representing Iceland), Center of Icelandic Art conceptual installations works about environmental and political issues, such the advanced Icelandic energy policies and the Genetic code development.

External links

* http://www.katabox.com/
* http://www.cia.is/