Gudmundur Erro Click for Artist Information

Gudmundur Erro

Gudmundur Erro (1932 - )

Gudmundur Gudmundsson "Erró" was born in Iceland in 1932. After leaving Reykjavík to study in Oslo and Florence, Erró moved to Paris in 1958, and from 1961 he participated in new figuration exhibitions with Gérard Fromanger, Jacques Monory, Bernard Rancillac, Valerio Adami and Peter Klasen. In the Parisian art scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Erró was one of the radical artists committed to the new figurative painting that was critical of its socio-political context.

In particular, he participated in one of the seminal exhibitions of narrative figuration at Galerie Creuze in 1965. Aiming to de-mythologize everyday life in a consumer society, Erró and his fellow artists drew attention to the procedures behind the production of images and the manipulative power behind them, revealing the power structures that created these myths. Erró's visual vocabulary drew on popular images from everyday life, political events and art history, increasingly integrating the language of comics into his work.

Erró also collects images (advertisements, photographs, comic books, advertisements, political pamphlets) that inspire him during his travels all over the world, brings them together and composes them on canvas. In doing so, the artist always uses humor and sometimes pity and violence.

Since 1955, he has exhibited in various countries around the world and his works have been exhibited at the Guggenheim, MOMA, Aachen, Ludwig Museum, Berlin, Nationalgalerie, Humlebæk, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Stockholm, Moderna Museet, Tel Aviv, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, His works are in the collections of more than 40 of the world's leading museums and art centers, including the Hara Museum, FNAC, Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Musée de Grenoble, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Saint-Etienne, Musée d'Art Moderne. He lives and works in Paris, Thailand and the island of Formontera.