Hulda Hákon og Jón Óskar

Hulda Hákon :When the fishermen in Vestmannaeyjar see me walking along the harbor, they don't know that I'm checking out their oilskins. They don't know that I'm not particularly fond of the bright green and bright yellow ones, but my spirits lift when I see someone wearing neon orange. The neon orange color complements the colors of the ocean so beautifully.

Recently, I met a rescue swimmer from the helicopter crew, and we started talking about colors. He told me that Norwegians conducted a study on which color is most visible in nature. The result was that neon orange comes out on top.

Jón Óskar: The artworks in this exhibition have been in progress for the past 10–11 years. They remained on the sidelines while I worked on other pieces. Several times, I declared them finished and dated them accordingly, only to pick them back up later and make changes.

As a result, several years are listed underneath the final completion year of 2021. Originally untitled, they are now called Liquid Paper, named after the famous correction fluid invented by American secretary Bette Nesmith Graham.

Artists always have role models when starting out, and in my case, they numbered in the dozens. However, Bette is likely one of my greatest influences: when I began illustrating articles for newspapers and magazines 40 years ago, I always used correction fluid on my ink drawings. Later, when I began working with oil paint, I realized I was applying colors as if they were correction fluid. Bette passed away at just 56 years old, having sold her company a year earlier to Gillette for $175 million (in today's value). Her son, Michael Nesmith, former guitarist of The Monkees, used his inheritance to help launch MTV.