RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think piece, 2013 [set of Icelandic and English version]

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RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think Piece, 2013 [set of Icelandic and English version]
(Það er fallegt en sorglegt að vera manneskja / It is beautiful but sad to be a human being)
each ca 8 x 8 x 10 cm
ball of glass with text, red ribbon with text, cardboard box
Christmas ball in original silver coloured box with small booklets in English and Icelandic
signed in print on each object
limited edition
set of two balls € 240,-

Ragnar Kjartansson says the following about this work:
“It was Christmas night, 1998, and I was sitting in the living room with my father. Everyone else had gone to bed, the candles were burning out, and rain was falling on the Christmas snow outside. My father usually gets a bit drunk at Christmas and feels it’s important to use the festive occasion to instruct his son in the principles of life. This Christmas he was in a particularly good mood. We were smoking cigars and he had a glass of cognac in his hand. Suddenly, his breath heavy, he said: “Ragnar, I need to tell you something, and it is the most important thing that I will ever tell you.” He closed his eyes and there was a long silence. Then he said: “It is beautiful but sad to be a human being.” It had a profound effect on me. Now this truthful contradiction decorates the Globe of Goodwill.”

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RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think Piece (Það er fallegt en sorglegt að vera manneskja), 2013

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RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think Piece (Það er fallegt en sorglegt að vera manneskja*), 2013
ca 8 x 8 x 10 cm
ball of glass with printed text, red ribbon with text, cardboard box
Christmas ball in original silver coloured box with small booklets in English and Icelandic
signed in print
limited edition
€ 140,-

* English trans. It is beautiful but sad to be a human being

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think Piece, 2013

RKjartasson2013Xmasball-ENG700

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Think Piece, 2013
ca 8 x 8 x 10 cm
English version: It is beautiful but sad to be a human being
ball of glass with text, red ribbon with text, cardboard box
Christmas ball in original silver coloured box with small booklets in English and Icelandic
signed in print
limited edition
€ 180,-

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Feuerchen!, 2011

RAGNAR KJARTANSSON, Feuerchen!, 2011
chipboard, paint
various sizes between ca 20 x 29 x 1,8 cm – ca. 35 x 67 x 1,8 cm
series of 30 unique objects
published by Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
sold

Feuerchen! (trans. “Little fire!”) is a sculpture by Ragnar Kjartansson that resembles a prop from a performance. Like much of Kjartansson’s work, this piece blends a cliché image and drama or aesthetics and emblemata. Ragnar Kjartansson’s tragicomic performances take on the boundaries between art and life, fiction and reality. His work is often about the nature of art, addressing our romantic mythology of the artist as mysterious, elevated or bohemian.

History of prices:
Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany   € 500,- June 2012
Galleri i8, Reykjavík, Iceland     US$ 3,500.- Januari 2018