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The work of artist Stefán Óla Baldursson can be seen on many walls and restaurants in Reykjavík. He usually takes material from old photographs, sometimes in black and white, and then paints them in color according to his own inspiration.
It’s about curiosity
Stefan Olah has an unusual background, and one could say that he entered the art world somewhat from the margins.
“I have been pushing myself ever since I can remember. For example, I remember when I was nine, playing outside with the kids, we climbed up on the roof of the kindergarten. Someone handed me a spray can and I wrote “Stebbi is cool” on the roof. Twenty minutes later I came home and my mom had already heard about it. And within twenty minutes, I was “caught”! I now know who told her, but there are no names here. Then you start using some aliases so that my mother or other people don’t find out about me,” said Stefan Oli, who adopted the stage name Motan.
“Then I met some friends on Facebook who were doing this kind of thing. There was always a friend decorating a wall and before long you were part of a community doing ‘graffiti’. However, the people who do this are just curious and are looking for their own style. Some people think it’s vandalism, but for those who do it, it’s an adventure and a semi-secret language that few people understand. There you can distinguish very different ways of thinking. I wish there were more places where people could develop this technique. It would be great to stop by and see new work, there are often very talented artists on tour.”
At Grazie Trattoria you can see Stefán’s interpretation of the 1838 work “Confessions” by Italian painter Giuseppe Molteni.
Found my own way
Stefán Óli studied carpentry, studied art at FB, and ended up attending art college for a while. “I didn’t graduate from any of these great institutions, but if you have the chance, maybe you try to finish college,” Stefán Óli said. “You just keep trying and find your way. For example, I didn’t find myself at art university, but I still met a lot of people there who are my friends today. They just didn’t teach the techniques that fascinated me the most in art.”
When asked how he got so good at the technique, Stefan said there was a lot of practice behind it. “You pick up things from here and there. Then you test yourself with what you see. First of all, you learn by doing. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, so maybe it’s more obvious for me than for others, but it’s also mainly the time you spend at it.”
Making a living from art
Stefán Óli describes how he grew tired of the artist’s work, it was a natural progression, and today he manages to make a living from art. “One gets sucked into it. When I went to art university, I didn’t think I could do this full-time. It was more of a “lifestyle project” for me. Today it still seems to work,” says Stefán Óli, but it all depends on how he gets the projects. “First I saw someone painting on a wall and I thought I could do something like this. Then I started knocking on doors and asking if I could paint on a wall. Then it started to get invited and people came to me and asked to have art on their walls.”
More information is available in Morgunblaðin, out Thursday 8 August.
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