(gudmundur Gudmundson) Erro' Biography
Erró, pseudonym Gudmundur Gudmundsson, was born on 19 July 1932 in Olafsvik, north-west Iceland. From a young age, Gudmundur was fascinated by works of art and decided to devote himself to painting. He studied at the Reykjavik Academy of Art and later in Oslo. In the 1950s he traveled extensively in Spain, Italy, France and Germany, also studying at the Academy of Art in Florence and the School of Byzantine Mosaic in Ravenna. In 1958 he settled in Paris, where he began to exhibit his works.
In the 1960s, Erró came into contact with the Swedish museum director Pontus Hultén, who encouraged and protected him. He has participated in numerous exhibitions and his works are now present in various museums around the world, including the Center Pompidou in Paris.
Erró's pictorial world is characterized by the presence of comic book characters and autocratic dictators. In many of his works, Disney characters such as Donald Duck and Chip & Dale are placed alongside Greek gods and Madonnas. Leaders such as Hitler, Saddam Hussein and Mao Zedong are also represented in his works. Erró uses art to expose leaders who support dictatorship, conformity and uniformity. Weapons, violence and sexuality are recurring themes in his art.
Erró mixes different styles and pictorial languages, referring to artists such as Picasso, Léger, Disney, Dalí, Matta, Fahlström, Lichtenstein, Warhol and Rosenquist. In 2001, a museum dedicated to Erró was inaugurated in Reykjavik, where it is possible to admire his entire artistic production.
