Kiko Korriro

Þórður Guðmundur Valdimarsson – Kiko Korriro was born in Reykjavík, and lived there with his parents. When studying politics at university in Los Angeles, USA, he became interested in art. After his return to Iceland he pursued scholarly work and wrote press articles in which he urged fishing businesses to farm shrimp, capelin and whiting – but his ideas were not well received. Þórður enjoyed vigorous debate on politics, literature and current affairs – and if he did not have the facts at his disposal he would invent them, in order to achieve a more colourful and interesting picture, and add a more cultured and enjoyable flavour to the gathering. Þórður’s life is recounted in art historian Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson’s book Naïve and Fantastic Art in Iceland (1988).

Þórður had been working on his art for decades before his first show, at Listmunahúsið in Reykjavík in 1983, which attracted attention for its eroticism and imaginative use of colour. His collages from the mid-1950s are some of the first Pop Art works in Iceland, now exhibited for the first time. Þórður was one of Iceland’s most prolific artists, and it is essential to introduce his art to a new generation, who have never heard of the artist or seen anything of his work.

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