Good Night Moon

JD Malat Gallery, London, Mayfair, 2024
"Each painting in this series is a window into my personal experiences, blending the lines between reality and dreams, much like the twilight moments before sleep", these are the words of Icelandic artist Georg Óskar regarding his highly anticipated third solo exhibition at JD Malat Gallery, Good Night Moon. On view from the 1st of February until the 2nd of March 2024, this exhibition unveils Óskar's new body of work. Deeply personal and emotionally charged, Óskar's Good Night Moon offers a painted conversation regarding the different perspectives of fatherhood, the highs and lows, the joyous days and sleepless nights, all translated onto canvas. This exhibition consists of 12 new works serving as a visual documentation of his everyday life, tackling themes of mental health, parenthood, sleep depravity and the mundane. Good Night Moon depicts convivial scrapbook-like abstractions that are humorous, sarcastic and abundant in nature, exuding intense energies reminiscent of neo-expressionists Basquiat, Baselitz and abstract-expressionist Willem de Kooning. Portraying subjects infused with emotional intensity, Óskar employs a muted colour palette that is dictated by his medium and strengthened through the use of cold wax which imparts texture resulting in a subdued and matte finish. "I want the thickness and the richness the oil has to offer; I want things to get messy so I can organise that mess". He began working on Good Night Moon just one month after the birth of his daughter, as Óskar states "the title reflects my bedtime ritual with my daughter, capturing the magical moments of night and fitting perfectly with the exhibition's theme." The drastic schedule change when caring for a new-born is a collective feeling parents know all too well, free-time now seems that of a distant memory, however, Óskar found solace in his studio: "It became a space where I processed life and time amidst the demands of parenthood".

https://artplugged.co.uk/georg-oskar-good-night-moon/