Leaving Art is the title of an exhibition of works by Guðmundur Óli Pálmason, which will be opened in Skotið at the Reykjavík Museum of Photography on Thursday 11 November at 16.

Abandoned farmsteads in the Icelandic countryside have long captured the eye of Guðmundur Óli Pálmason and inspired his art making. In his works the viewer meets obscure fragments from the past, which he captures with old photography method he has specialized in.

An important part of the work „Leaving Art“, here on show, can be catagorized as a performance, which Pálmason started executing over a year ago. He leaves some of his works in rural area, for anyone to find and own. Usually in the places where the photo was taken or somewhere connected to it. Although Pálmason is born and raised in Reykjavík he has never felt at home in a city environment. Thus he poses the big question if there is a connection between the abandonment of vast parts of the countryside to live in city and towns and our severed connection as humans to nature and spirituality. By abandoning the works – leaving art – he seeks to answer this question to which the exhibition‘s title refers to.

Guðmundur Óli Pálmason is born in Reykjavík in 1978. He finished a BA in Art Photography from the University of the Arts, London in 2011 and Photography from Reykjavík Technical College in 2007. Before he had studied Media and information studies also at Reykjavík Technical College from 2005-2007.