This Synthetic Hair-Extension Art Gives Us Warm Fuzzies

The fuzzy fiber-works by Icelandic artist Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir aka Shoplifter look furry enough to touch, lay on, and wrap yourself in. The large-scale installations of synthetic hair extensions titled Nervescape IV, are currently on display at Momentum Nordic Biennial of Contemporary Art.

Arnardóttir has dedicated herseld to the use of hair as a medium. She says her furry installations, "appear beautiful, evoking natural forms and plant life, but at the same time hair is considered grotesque and disturbing when it is not attached to the body, like hair in the shower drain."

“Nervescape is an invented word combining nerves and landscape,” Arnardóttir tells The Creators Project, “and refers to an imagined vision of an inner landscape of thoughts, nerve endings, sensory euphoria, and a mental dwelling place, both cavernous and a comfort zone, a nest…[the work] is playful and child-like yet grotesque and beastly, touching on notion of vanity and the absurdity of gathering an overabundance of this mass produced material and giving it a new role in the art context.”

The artist’s other whimsical and romantic collections, such as her hairy textural photography, draw inspiration from pop culture, Scandinavian textile, and graffiti, have helped to establish her as one of Scandinavia’s leading artists.

Nervescape IV will be on display at the Nordic Biennial until September. For more of Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir's work, check out her website.

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