Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson: Infinite Space, Sublime Horizons

Edited by Andrea Gyorody
Contributions by Cathleen Chaffee, Andrea Gyorody, Jenni Sorkin, and Carson Vandermade

Designed by Content Object: Kimberly Varella, Design and Art Direction; Gabrielle Pulgar, Assistant Designer
Casebound Hardcover, 128 pages
Publisher: Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, 2023 
ISBN: 979-8-9879870-0-1
Dimensions: 9 × 12.5 in.
Copyeditor: Deirdre O’Dwyer
Early Typographic Studies: Isa Knafo
Separations: Echelon, Los Angeles, CA
Printing: Conti Tipocolor, Florence, Italy


Hildur Ásgeirsdóttir Jónsson creates large-scale paintings that are made by weavings—physically, conceptually, and geographically—deconstructed and then put back together. As curator Andrea Gyorody explains, “Using fiber-reactive silk dyes, Jónsson either pours the liquid or dabs it on the threads with a brush; painted wet-on-wet, the pigment spreads, diffusing at the edge of application. While the warp threads are drying, Jónsson soaks and paints the weft threads, which will run perpendicular along the length of the textile. When all the threads are dry, warp and weft meet bit by bit on the loom, slowly bringing an abstracted image into being.” The effect is dizzying and immersive.

The book design takes these elements into its own handheld proportions, weaving lines of text with deep and staggering indents and peppered images, enjoying a large trim size to show off the plates, including multiple details to enhance the understanding of Jónsson's process. Each spread is like a swim in a color-infused room. The cover is printed 4c + 1 spot on book cloth with a blind deboss on the title. The book block is printed LED UV on uncoated paper—strewn with swaths of color (2 PMSs) that culminate in the end to fully painted spreads that house a chronology. It looks at Jónsson's CV in parallel to ecological events happening in Iceland, including earthquakes and temperature shifts.

Photography by Chris Gardner