Katrin Fridriks

Katrin Fridriks is an Icelandic abstract painter. She takes inspiration from wild environments and the natural energy held within these settings. Iceland’s gargantuan glaciers, rivers, geysers and volcanoes fascinate Fridriks in particular, aiming to emulate their sense of charged movement and power within her abstract paintings. Working with acrylic, in a similar vein to Jackson Pollock, Fridriks will throw paint directly onto the canvas, morphing these chance experiments into highly detailed, amorphous forms. The ripples and folds crystalised on canvas possess the same vitality of running water, or other morphing elements. Fridriks’ mastery of light gives each abstract form immense textural depth, as if viewers could run their hands through the swathing blue droplets. The paintings bare aesthetic traces of contemporary pop art, graffiti, or calligraphic arts, yet their roots in nature gives them a distinct sensibility. Alongside natural phenomena, Fridriks is also deeply interested in the work of Nikola Tesla and his research into novel, clean energy. All of these resources and techniques collide within Fridriks’ magnetic paintings which unravel the conflicting dynamics between humanity, technology and our planet.