Hafthor Yngvason: Combining Philosophy and Art

Western Gallery’s new Director brings a philosophical approach to campus’ art collection

STORY BY KENNETH CLARKSON | PHOTOS BY NICK DANIELSON

Hafthor Yngvason will be the first to tell you he is not an artist. Yngvason is a philosopher; one who happens to be the Western Gallery’s new director. In his office there is an air of minimalism. Solid orange walls surround towers of paper and there is no incomprehensibly abstract artwork on display. He bolts up out of his office chair and heads toward the Western Gallery’s entrance. It is two weeks before the opening night of his first exhibit as the gallery’s director.

Artist Rintaro Hara is hard at work at the back of the gallery. His piece titled “Uplift and Slope” will be on display during the exhibit. Hara flew in from Japan to set up his installation. He says it will take the entire two weeks to complete.

Only one other artist travelled to complete their installation. The remaining four works have been installed by Museum Preservation Specialist, Paul Brower and a team of students.

Hara brandishes a few Styrofoam balls in his left hand. “I will use these, string and vertical beams to create my piece,” he says.

Once Hara is finished, tiny Styrofoam balls will travel on nearly invisible string. Standing in the middle of the gallery, one gets the feeling as if they are watching atoms travel back and forth, gliding past each other with extreme precision.
As Yngvason admires the production of the exhibit, he also admires the philosophy behind it.

Japanese artist Rintaro Hara stands amidst the many softly rolling Styrofoam balls of his piece “Uplift and Slope” featured in Western Gallery exhibit “How Space Turns.” Hara carefully inspects how each ball rolls along the string noting, “Each ball is different, some wobble more… it’s like they have their own personality.”

The first major exhibit Yngvason will present at Western, called “How Space Turns” (Wie Raum Wird), shows from Feb. 5 to May 12. This particular presentation was shipped from Germany to Bellingham. The exhibit will feature the work of six different artists, two being from Iceland.

Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir (left) and Hafthor Yngvason discuss the curatorial statement while Western Gallery staff make the final preparations before opening the exhibit to the public. In the statement, Jónsdóttir describes the installations as “created for the space, where they resound like silent visual music.”

Western Gallery Museum Preservation Specialist Paul Brower applies the curatorial statement to the wall of the gallery on the day of the opening of “How Space Turns.”

While working as the director of the Reykjavik Art Museum, Yngvason featured the same exhibit in 2014. It was received so well in Iceland it then traveled to Frankfurt, Germany. Yngvason was lucky enough to see it shipped to Western after it went off display in Frankfurt.

Born and raised in Reykjavik, Iceland, Yngvason formulated his initial interest in art when he was 16 years old. In Iceland, high school students study a concentrated topic before going to college. Yngvason studied physics and mathematics, he recalls with a laugh.

“Those were the easy subjects for me, but I became more and more interested in philosophy,” Yngvason says. Yngvason wanted to study philosophy and art in order to understand and explain art to others in a theoretical manner.

Yngvason switched his plan of study and graduated from the University of Iceland with a degree in philosophy.

Wielding a plastic cup of wine and a soft smile, Hafthor Yngvason explains to his opening night audience the thought process behind the collection of installations of “How Space Turns.”

He pauses, remembering his first time off of the island. Following a short visit to Boston he decided to finish his Master’s degree in philosophy at the University of New Mexico.

“I went as far as I could from Iceland, I wanted to experience a new culture,” Yngvason says.

In addition to wanting to experience a different lifestyle, he was drawn to New Mexico because of the opportunity to study at the D.H. Lawrence Ranch.

Lawrence was a prominent English novelist, playwright and painter during the 1920s.

After achieving his Master’s degree in philosophy Yngvason moved again, this time to Cambridge, Massachusetts to continue his studies at Harvard University.

Yngvason began to study under world-renowned philosopher, Stanley Cavell, known for his study of the philosophical principles of skepticism, aesthetics and ethics.

Following his studies at Harvard, Yngvason became the director of public art for the City of Cambridge. In 2005, he was given the opportunity to go back to Reykjavik, but this time as the Director of The Reykjavik Art Museum.

Come 2015 Yngvason needed to find a new job. He began to look at different art museums all over the U.S. to find work.
During his time at Cambridge, Yngvason he heard about Western’s outdoor public sculpture collection. Yngvason explains the collection is well-known outside of Bellingham and loves how it offers hands-on interaction with art for the students at Western.

Western Design student Sean Williams explores Icelandic artist Ingibjörg Jónsdóttir’s installation “Parallel Universes” on display at the “How Space Turns” exhibit. Jónsdóttir’s piece, located in a dark room behind a black curtain, is made up of metal rods and wire glowing green under backlights and appears differently when viewed with a flashlight.

Standing at the entrance to the gallery he scans the room eyeing the space that will hold his first exhibit at Western.The sculpture collection at Western reminds him of work he accomplished while working in Reykjavik. Pleased with his work he strides back toward his office, a smile on his face. He sits down at his desk and turns on his computer. He is back to clicking away at emails. Remember, Yngvason is not an artist.

Surrounded by bright orange walls and gallery-esque lighting, Yngvason likes to watch the variety of faces coming into the gallery from his office.