Arngunnur Ýr’s current exhibition, Onomea, includes oil paintings that layer and subvert botanical imagery from Hawaii. Palm fronds, bird of paradise, and lilies cover each composition, overflowing the picture plane with wildly colorful shapes and textures. The paintings invite the viewer into alluring landscapes with familiar flora yet, through unconventional perspectives and subtle use of light and shadow, they also bombard with complexity and create confusion; here we encounter portraits of paradise with an edge.

During her talk, Arngunnur will describe how she sees this new work as a way to explore ideas of home, belonging, awareness of history, and landscape as a metaphor for the human condition. She will also talk about her labor- intensive process and the inspiration she finds in her new home of Hawaii.