The exhibition of the series of paintings Handleikið/Handled by Ragnhildur Jóhanns opens at SÍM Gallery on Thursday, March 6—on the artist’s birthday. The exhibition presents 18 new paintings created by Ragnhildur in the past 15 months.

The Handleikið series can be described as classical still life, traditionally composed, meticulously executed, and deeply respectful of tradition. Upon closer inspection, an unexpected movement emerge, a subtle chaos infiltrating an otherwise orderly world: a human touch, as hands appear and transform the timeless visual form. The stillness of the still life is disrupted.

Throughout history, still life paintings have symbolized beauty, the elevation of everyday objects, and the unshakable order of art. In Ragnhildur’s work, stillness is not absolute. It is not merely a mirror of perfect order but a stage for human intervention—hands emerging from the void, touching, grasping, and altering.

The hand, an unexpected intruder in the stillness, becomes a statement of life and disorder. The more firmly Ragnhildur’s paintings adhere to classical aesthetics and tradition, the more striking the disruption becomes, generating a charged tension between structured beauty and human chaos—bringing the works to life. The viewer is drawn into a world where touch creates connection, where the hand introduces a new narrative to the still life. It invites us to engage, to find humanity within stillness.

It prompts reflection: Why do we repeat the familiar? Why do we reach out? Why do we crave connection? And ultimately, why it is never unnecessary to rethink something we thought we already knew?

Ragnhildur Jóhanns (b. 1977) is a visual artist based in Reykjavík. She graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Iceland University of the Arts in 2010 and has since participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, both in Iceland and internationally. Ragnhildur works with a diverse range of media in her artistic practice, including oil painting, drawing, collage, printmaking, and sculpture. Additionally, she has actively engaged in book art and has published several artist books.