Kristín Morthens Icelandic, b. 1992
Kristín Morthens
Kristín Morthens b. 1992
Kristín Morthens’ paintings navigate themes of boundaries, intimacy, and separation through fragmented, limb-like figures situated within abstracted spatial environments. These ambiguous forms often engage in gestures of near-connection—reaching, pulling, or folding inward—suggesting moments of suspended interaction or emotional tension.
Her exploration of corporeality is underscored by layered material processes, incorporating oil, spray paint, and dry pastels. Through strategic masking techniques, Morthens creates contrasts in surface and texture that emphasize the liminal space between presence and absence, materiality and illusion. This interplay of media articulates a visual language of touch and distance, evoking psychological and physical thresholds.
Morthens has exhibited widely in Iceland and internationally, with works held in both public and private collections. Recent exhibitions include Axis (2024), a duo presentation with Scott Everingham at Þula; Art is Our Only Hope (2025), a group exhibition at the Reykjavík Art Museum; and her 2023 solo exhibition Air Under Water, at Þula.
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A window, portal, sunken hole, a Wish // Gluggi, kýrauga, hola, Ósk, 2025 -
Gárur, 2025
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Heitt heitt kalt, 2025
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No Thought of Time, 2025 Sold
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Sitthvoru megin en á sama tíma, 2025
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Soft Like Water / Mjúkt eins og vatn, 2025 Sold
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Að halda á öllu sem flýgur og fellur á sama tíma I / To hold every flying and falling at once I, 2024
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Að halda á öllu sem flýgur og fellur á sama tíma II / To hold every flying and falling at once II, 2024
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Að trúa á tímann, 2024
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Mother's Shadow Catching Itself // Skuggi móður nær í sjálfan sig, 2024
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Reflect // Speglun, 2024
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Soft Spheres, Hard Edges // Mjúk mengi, hvassar brúnir , 2024
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Söl, 2024
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Thaw / Þiðnun, 2024
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Origin of a World// Uppruni heims, 2023
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Soft Stretch, 2018
Artist CV
SOLO + 2-PERSON
2024 Axis / Öxull (with Scott Everingham), Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
2023 Andrými á hafsbotni / Air Under Water, Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
2022 Að snerta uppsprettu, Listval, Reykjavik, Iceland
2021 Gegnumtrekkur, Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
2019 Armar, GK Reykjavík, Reykjavik, Iceland
Það sem fer í hring, Gallerí Port, Reykjavik, Iceland
Introducing Kristín Morthens, Christopher Cutts, Toronto, Canada
I Followed a Spiral, It Felt Like a Loop, Angell Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2016 Feeling Blessed, Algera Stúdíó, Reykjavik, Iceland
GROUP
2025 Art Is Our Only Hope, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
2025 Þverskurður / Cross Section, Þula, Reykjavík, Iceland
2024 Unknown Benevolence, Hafnarborg, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
D-vítamín / Vitamin D, Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland
2023 Ný aðföng, National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
2021 Samsýning 2021-vol.1, Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
2020 Jólamarkaður Þulu, Þula, Reykjavik, Iceland
Gleðileg jól, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavik, Iceland
Stuttgart Art Walk, Stuttgart, Germany
Samsýning í Flæði, Flæði, Reykjavik, Iceland
2019 Port IV, Gallery Port, Reykjavik, Iceland
Summer Group Exhibition, Galerie Youn, Montreal, Canada
Nothing Something, Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, Canada
From The Edge of the World, Ekkisens, Reykjavik, Iceland
2018 Le Grand Salon de Noël, Ásmundarsalur, Reykjavik, Iceland
Á Snærum, Gallery Port, Reykjavik, Iceland
Ung Islandsk Kunst, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark
Synthetic Shorelines, Durden&Ray, Los Angeles, Bandaríkin
Sugar Wounds no.2, Ármúli 7, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sugar Wounds no.1, Ármúli 7, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sex Self, Ekkisens, Reykjavik, Iceland
Fresh Paint / New Construction, Art Mûr, Montreal, Canada
Painters Make Better Lovers, Northern Contemporary, Toronto, Canada
Gradex, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
Simmer 2, 165 Geary Ave, Toronto, Canada
Festival of the Body, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2017 Háflæði, Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland
Negative Space, Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, Canada
Festival of the Body, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2016 Áferð, Gallery Port Reykjavik, Iceland
Festival of the Body, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2015 Algera Fiesta Flow, Algera, Reykjavik, Iceland
2014 Túban, Gamla Stofan, Reykjavik, Iceland
2013 Háflæði, Harpa, Reykjavik, Iceland
Hávaði, Kaffistofan, Reykjavik, Iceland
2012 Ainda É Preciso, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Poluição Eleitoral, Puxadinho, São Paulo, Brazil
Vinnslan 1, Norðurpóllinn, Seltjarnarnes, Iceland
Útskriftarsýning Fjölbrautaskólans Í Breiðholti, Brimhúsið, Reykjavik, Iceland
Svart-Hvítt, Artíma Gallery, Reykjavik, Iceland
ART FAIRS
2025. CART Art Fair, Copenhagen, Denmark
2024 Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2023 Market Art Fair, Stockholm, Sweden
2021 CHART Art Fair (Solo booth), Copenhagen, Denmark
2020 Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2019 Art Miami, Miami, USA
Foire Papier, Montreal, Canada
2018 Art Toronto, Toronto, Canada
AWARDS
2025 Artists' Salary Fund, Iceland, 6 months
2024 Muggur Arts Fund
2024 Icelandic Visual Arts Fund
2024 Icelandic Visual Arts Fund
2022 Muggur Arts Fund
2018 Mrs. W. O. Forsyth Award
Icelandic Art Center for Sugar Wounds
2016 Curry’s Art Store Prize
2015 Helen Eisen Scholarship
EDUCATION
2018 BFA, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2016 BFA exchange, School of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
2012 Fjölbrautarskólinn í Breiðholti, Reykjavik, Iceland
RESIDENCIES
2025 CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain
2022 Arte Ventura, Andalusia, Spain
COLLECTIONS
The National Gallery of Iceland
Reykjavík Art Museum
Central Bank of Iceland
Eimskipafélag Íslands
Fjölbrautarskólinn í Breiðholti
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Group show
Þverskurður / Cross Section 22 Feb - 6 Apr 2025Þverskurður / Cross Section is a group exhibition that brings together works by ten artists represented by Þula, each with a unique approach to materials and media. The exhibition highlights...Read more -
Kristín Morthens & Scott Everingham
Axis // Öxull 17 Aug - 29 Sep 2024Abstract painting is a collaboration. You have to collaborate with the world around you, translating the source material of life into compositions. Not the literal landscapes and figures, but the...Read more -
Kristín Morthens
Andrými á hafsbotni / Air under water 3 Jun - 2 Jul 2023Air Under Water is an excursion exploring territories unknown, yet faintly recognizable landscapes etched into the borders of our psyche. The artist, herself, becomes a conduit for ideas that seem...Read more -
Kristín Morthens
Gegnumtrekkur 6 - 28 Mar 2021In this body of works, Kristín explores narrative tradition, timelessness, paradoxes, and risks. She does this through paintings that show ecosystems of organic forms with sharp claws in chaotic spaces...Read more
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Kristín Morthens - Unknown Benevolence at Sláturhúsið
January 30th - March 23rd, 2025 March 4, 2025The exhibition emerges from a need to find magic in a world that, in many ways, seems devoid of enchantment—at a time lacking bright hope....Read more -
Kristín Morthens - Unknown Benevolence at Hafnarborg
August 29th - October 27th 2024 September 14, 2024The exhibition is shaped by the need to get a sense of magic in a world that largely seems to be devoid of the magical,...Read more
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Art Toronto 2024
Toronto, Canada 24 - 27 Oct 2024For Art Toronto '24 Þula presents a duo booth of abstract paintings by the Canadian artist Scott Everingham and the Icelandic artist Kristín Morthens. In...Read more -
CHART Art Fair 2023
Copenhagen, Denmark 25 - 27 Aug 2023For CHART Art Fair 2023 a group of 3 artists were representing the booth, Kristín Morthens, Auður Lóa Guðnadóttir and Anna Maggý all of them...Read more -
Market Art Fair 2023
Stockholm, Sweden 12 - 14 May 2023Þula Debuted at Market Art Fair in Stockholm this year (2023). We brought the talented Kristín Morthens and Áslaug Íris Katrín Friðjónsdóttir. About the artistis:...Read more -
CHART Art Fair 2021
Copenhagen, Denmark 26 - 29 Aug 2021For CHART 2021 Þula presented an exhibition by Kristín Morthens. The paintings include narratives of intimacy, separation and boundaries interpreted in terms of physical form...Read more