Jónsi & Alex :: A Conversation

30 October 2009

Interview: Karen Wright
Portraits: Dietmar Busse
Reportage: John Best

Jónsi Birgisson and Alex Somers celebrated the release of their album Riceboy Sleeps with a
display of their art work earlier this year at the French patisserie gallery Maison Bertaux, Greek Street, London. We photographed the work there and I asked Jónsi and Alex to write their thoughts about this work, which they did in their very personal and colourful fashion.

Jón Thór (Jónsi) Birgisson first achieved international recognition as the lead singer and front man for Sigur Rós, a band which in their words ‘really found their feet’ with their second album, the masterpiece that is Ágætis byrjun (A good beginning). The album was originally released only in Iceland, but was discovered by Brighton’s Fatcat Records, who snapped up the band and released the album in the UK in August 2000. The band toured north America for the first time in April and May 2001, and the vast majority of the dates sold out straight away. Perhaps due to the hype in the American media, the shows were attended by many big-name celebrities, somewhat to the band’s bemusement.

Since then the band has gone from strength to strength, their recognizable music conjuring up both the strangeness and beauty of their native Iceland. To date Sigur Rós have released four albums and one remix album Von brigði (Recycle bin). Praise has continued to be heaped upon the band. Brad Pitt recently said in an interview that the group was his ‘favourite band of all times.’

In 2006 Jónsi and his romantic partner Alex Somers released a picture book, Riceboy Sleeps. Earlier this year the duo's track ‘Happiness’ provided one of the standout moments on AIDS-awareness compilation Dark Was The Night, and the same track opens Riceboy Sleeps, the duo’s debut album.

Alex was a founding member of the band Parachutes, an experimental band who record in Alex’s home using household objects as instruments. Alex has previously collaborated with Jónsi producing visual art and music under the name Jónsi & Alex, and has also designed a number of Sigur Rós album covers including the cover of Takk, which won the Best Album Design at the 2006 Icelandic Music Awards.

Jónsi & Alex, as they are self-styled, released their first album Riceboy Sleeps in 2009 and are working together now on their next album. I caught up with Jónsi and Alex in New York where they were recording new tracks for Riceboy Sleeps. I spoke to them individually about their art but it soon became apparent that like all great collaborations, their artwork was a conversation between them.

[Karen Wright]: Did you always make art?
[JÓnsi]: I was always drawing. When I was a student, art was the only class I got good grades in.

[KW]: Not music?
[J]: No! I didn’t get good grades in music! [Laughs]

[KW]: When did you start making art together?
[Alex]: When we moved in together in 2005. Our trajectory is similar. I used to collect old photographs when I was a student in Boston. I used to go to flea markets and little antique shops and find beautiful photographs – and then I found that Jónsi collected old photographs too. At first it was just the content that attracted me but I was also drawn to the colours, the beautiful sepias and also the sense of movement.

[KW]: Were the photographs that you found in Iceland the same that Alex found in Boston?
[J]: Yes and no, they were at first mainly old-fashioned photographs of people sitting, very still, old classic photographs but now we are into movement – I like it that some moment is captured.

[KW]: Was using found images important?
[J]: Finding things is still important. There are lots of accidents and that’s important. It’s like finding a prize, it’s like something in the music, something that grabs you in music, a photograph, in food and all kinds of stuff. It is an inspiration.
[A]: In the beginning we used the image but now we draw from the picture, movement in the photograph or something that sparks other ideas; zoom in on a detail in a corner, a tree in the background, for example.

www.dietmarbusse.com

[KW]: Tell me about the frames that you used in your recent show, are they found as well?
[A]: We were forever drawing and one day we were in the countryside and we were walking – it is very desolate in Iceland and empty – and we came upon a huge pile of abandoned windows, probably an old summer house or something. So we filled up a car, went home and returned and filled up another car and decided that it was the right way to make frames for our paintings. In 2006 we made an exhibition using these old windows as frames. Since then we have kept an eye out for old windows and collect them when we see them. But we don’t want to get stuck in one idea so we may not use windows forever.

[KW]: I think the art reflects something in the music. It is wistful and nostalgic. Is that fair?
[J]: Yes, I suppose our art is like that. Nostalgic, ghostly, dreamy. It reminds you of your past.

[KW]: Who inspires you?
[J]: There are many artists that inspire me but I can’t name any.

[KW]: Is there an artist?
[A]: Yes! Henry Darger, I only discovered him recently, I like Sally Mann as well. I am influenced by her photographs.

[KW]: Do you draw to your music?
[A]: We don’t draw to our music. Jónsi has got me into old music, crackling records.
[J]: Yes, I work at home and I always have music on. I like old music, old jazz, Django Reinhardt or Billie Holiday.

[KW]: Is the nostalgia in the music important in your artwork?
[J]: I like music for its atmosphere. I keep it on in the background. I like its scratchiness, it’s like a crackling fire in the background, it’s cosy – like creating a cocoon that is nice to be in.

[KW]: Are Nordic composers like Arvo Pärt an inspiration to your work?
[J]: Arvo Pärt was definitely an inspiration. Some works like Galine: innocent and honest and pretty and really beautiful, simple and touching. I have admiration for doing something that was so simple and beautiful. It was a brave thing for him to do. I think the music critics would probably really hate it.

[KW]: Can you see changes in your art?
[A]: I notice there is more colour in the work recently. We started with pencils and charcoals. We wanted to stay safe and in our comfort zone, but recently started using more colour, different layers of colour. That was why we chose watercolour, as you can make it opaque, and barely there. We used tea shades to start with but we are experimenting with more and more colour. We crept more into colour, pale tones, and we grew into it. We are using more colour and we are really into it.
[J]: I like working in what inspires me at the moment, photography, video or painting. Whatever inspires me.

[KW]: What are you working on together at the moment?
[A]: We are doing lots of creative projects together. We edit together and mix and make drawings and paintings together.

[KW]: And the future?
[J]: I would really like to focus on video. It is our strong side, that and installation. Alex and I really compliment each other so well. I would like to do more but it is about finding the time. I am still working with Sigur Rós and on my own stuff as well.

[KW]: What is it like to collaborate with another person – be honest!
[J]: Collaborating with Alex has been good. I work fast, he’s slow. He’s thorough, I’m spontaneous. I kick his ass and he focuses me.