Björn Leó Brynjarsson recently held his first art exhibition where he sold every piece. Björn Leó has worked in the theater world for a long time, but says the art suits him well. The good feeling of seeing the works born. Birna Dröfn Jónasdóttir interviewed Björn Leo.
Björn Leó Brynjarsson was born in Vesturæn in 1985. He graduated from the Icelandic Academy of Arts’ stage writing course twelve years ago and has since worked in various theater-related jobs. Among other things, he wrote and directed the play Frama and wrote the play The Great Poet, which was shown at Borgarleichús and was well received. Björn Leo recently surprised his loved ones when he got into the saddle and started painting. He recently showed the images at his first art exhibition in Núllin at Bankastræti.
“I work as a scriptwriter and director, and I’m working on several script projects and I’m about to make a documentary,” explains Björn Leó. The piece Frami, for example, was about an artist who loses his mind. I don’t think there were any works on me in the future,” he laughs.
I got sick from the computer
“Last fall I had a kind of digital nervous breakdown, I got really tired of working on a computer all day, being on the blessed smartphone and hitting a wall, I don’t I couldn’t stay with keyboards and screens anymore. I wanted to do something with my hands,” says Björn Leó, adding that he has the talent on both sides to be reasonably gifted.
“Then I finally stopped painting pictures. So even though it has been a while since I started painting, the preparation was long and it is something I had dreamed of doing for a long time”, he said.
Impulsive with ADHD
Björn Leo then says that he also has ADHD and is extremely impulsive. “So before I knew it, I had put a lot of time and effort into this and had quite a few finished pieces. Then I got really good encouragement from people around of me and others who dabbled in visual media, so I just gave up and commissioned Núllid Gallerý and curated an exhibition.”
When Bjössi, as he is often called, was 23 and looking for a course he wanted, he had to choose between studying acting or studying art. “The game was chosen, but the other was always in the subconscious. Interest in other artistic mediums has always been great and I am constantly writing ideas, collecting images that ignite me,” he says .
When asked where he gets his inspiration from, Bjössi says it comes from all sources. “I’m very interested in colors and shapes and I particularly like anything that has an irrational verb. The exhibition I held at Zero was called ‘Stadleysur’. I have an obsession with anything that is so supernatural, intermediate and unnameable, in English it’s called “the liminal space”, like what is between the real and the surreal”, he explains.
“The idea of the works in the exhibition was to convey a certain feeling that I have a lot myself, of being somewhere but feeling unreal. I always tell myself to be somewhere looking at the ceiling and it feels ridiculous and a bit unreal to me. The pieces are really all an embodiment of that experience,” he says.
“Many of the images have blue and yellow stakes similar to those used in surveying, which I found symbolic in this context. A sort of mapping or measuring of chaotic spaces. An attempt to fix a point in a world that’s constantly moving and flowing. They’re very geometric and architectural images, and that’s also something I think about a lot, how man-made environments affect us.”
Normal and natural change
How did it go from theater to art?
“I thought it was a pretty natural, natural change. What’s hard about writing, acting, etc., is the time it takes to go from idea to work. It can take years to the artist to see something come to fruition. “Painting pictures is more comfortable because things come true in front of you, they are created in the physical world during the working process,” says Bjössi.
Was it difficult to show the photos to people at first? “I was surprised how nervous and small I was just before the opening of the exhibition. It was something completely new for me because by writing and acting, I know who I am. am and I created a self-confidence and a certain ego. I had no idea how it would turn out,” he says.
“Then I was very relieved when people showed up and saw the reaction. I was so nervous I’d be a complete mess and people would say, what does this actor want on a tire”, he adds with a smile.
“I had a really weird feeling when the show was over and all the footage was gone. I thought, Well, I guess I won’t be doing this again. I find it really inspiring and wonderful to know that everyone The work I put into it now hangs in the homes of people who appreciate it. I’m very sad and grateful for that,” says Bjössi.
Do you see art becoming your primary art form?
“I’m writing full-time on several projects that are going well, developing a script for a documentary and more. It works really well to juggle those two things, writing and painting. I overcame this nervous breakdown digital and it works very well together. Working visually and by hand, then writing ideas and all that. I think these two speak very well together. I highly recommend it”, concludes Björn Leó.
Author: Birna Dröfn Jónasdóttir
