Þula (IS)

Þula is a commercial gallery space, representing and exhibiting a selection of established and emerging contemporary artists, bringing the latest currents in the Icelandic artworld to a local and international platform. It strives to not only bring together its surrounding community through the language of art but to create a dialogue between cultures, introduce new narratives and blur borders. The gallery was originally founded in 2013 by the name of Hverfisgallerí, taking the name Þula in 2023.

Hólmaslóð 20 - The Marshallhouse
101 Reykjavík
Iceland
(+354) 771 8010

thula@thula.gallery
thula.gallery

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Curated for
CHART

For CHART 2025, Þula’s presentation brings together artists who use material as a language of transformation, where layering, erasure, and reconfiguration shape new visual narratives. Guðmundur Thoroddsen’s oil and oil-stick compositions explore the tension between structure and spontaneity, while Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir’s process-driven paintings evolve through repetition and intuitive mark-making. Rakel McMahon challenges cultural constructs through material intervention, using re-interpretation and metaphor to explore shifting norms. Expanding beyond the booth, Kristín Morthens’ large-scale painting in the staircase engages with ideas of proximity and distance, mirroring the exhibition’s dialogue on presence and absence. This presentation highlights the expressive possibilities of material, inviting viewers to engage with the ways in which surfaces, textures, and forms hold meaning.

Kristín Morthens (IS)

Kristín Morthens' paintings deal with boundaries, intimacy and separation through narratives of limb-like figures in abstract spaces. These subjects often perform a gesture of almost-touching, reaching out or pulling in, either toward themselves or between each other. The focus of physicality is repeated through layering techniques using materials such as oil, spray paint and dry pastels. The contrasting surfaces highlight notions of boundaries and materialism.

Kristín Morthens (b.1992, IS) lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland. She holds a BFA from OCAD, Canada. Selected solo exhibitions; Andrými á hafsbotni / Air Under Water, Þula, IS 2023 and Að snerta uppsprettu, Listval, IS, 2022. Group exhibitions; Art is our only hope!, Reykjavik Art Museum, IS, 2025 and Ný aðföng, National Gallery of Iceland, IS, 2023. Her works are placed in public and private collections.

Reflect

Oil, spray paint and dry pastels on canvas
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Soft Spheres, Hard Edges

Oil, spray paint and dry pastels on canvas
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Thick Present

Oil and spray paint on linen
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Time Walk

Oil and spray on canvas
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Portrait of Kristín Morthens

Courtesy of the artist and Þula. Photo by Dora Duna

Guðmundur Thoroddsen (IS)

Guðmundur Thoroddsen is an Icelandic painter and sculptor exploring transformation, materiality, and abstraction. His layered compositions and organic forms, influenced by the Icelandic landscape, balance structure and spontaneity. With the use of oil and oil sticks the artist often plays with figurative gestures within his works, allowing for a wide range of interpretations and emotional responses.

Guðmundur Thoroddsen (b. 1980, IS) lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland. He holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Selected solo exhibitions; Up and Down, Asya Geisberg, USA, 2024 & Drifts, Þula, IS, 2024. Group exhibitions; Nightshade: The World in the Evening, Oakland University Art Gallery, USA, 2025. Ný aðföng, National Gallery of Iceland, IS, 2023. His works are placed in public and private collections.

Big Blue

Oil and oil sticks on linen
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Cadence

Oil and oil sticks on linen
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Heather

Oil and oil sticks on linen
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Tides

Oil and oil sticks on linen
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Portrait of Guðmundur Thoroddsen

Courtesy of the artist

Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir (IS)

Painting has long been central to Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir artistic practice. A process of exploration where form, color, and texture take shape through intuition and repetition. She allows ideas to develop slowly, layering paint and letting images emerge over time. Through this process, stories unfold naturally built up, scraped away, and reworked until they settle into place on the canvas.

Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir (b. 1987, IS) lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland. She holds a BFA from Iceland University of the Arts. Selected solo exhibitions; Loaded Beach, Akureyri Art Museum, IS, 2025 and Like &&, Y Gallery, IS, 2023. Group exhibitions; Art is our only hope!, Reykjavik Art Museum, IS, 2025 and Summer Salon, Alice Folker Gallery, DK, 2024. Her works are placed in public and private collections.

Ground and a Unexpected Growth

Oil, acrylic and pastels on canvas
2023

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Skrjóður / Creeper

Oil, acrylic and pastel on canvas
2025

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Strand

Oil, acrylic and pastels on canvas
2024

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Regnvaldur

oil, acrylic and pastel on canvas

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Portrait of Helga Páley Friðþjófsdóttir

Courtesy of the artist and Þula

Rakel McMahon (IS)

Rakel McMahon is an Icelandic interdisciplinary artist working with installation, performance, and mixed media. Her work explores gender, sexuality, and cultural narratives through metaphor and reinterpretation of what is deemed serious and humorous, challenging perceptions of normality and media influence.

Rakel McMahon (b. 1983, IS) lives and works between Reykjavík and Athens. The artist holds degrees in Fine Arts, Art Education, and Gender Studies. Selected solo exhibitions; Trú Blue, Þula, IS, 2024 and 2019 Dialectic Bubble. It's the media not you! Ltd. Ink. Corporation. UK, 2023. Group exhibitions; Tileinkun, Reykjanes Art Museum, IS and Looking Inward, Looking Outward, National Gallery of Iceland, 2025. Her works are placed in public and private collections.