The artist and the psychologist
Ragnar Stefánsson, born in 1957 in Reykjavik and currently living in India, is an artist with a diverse background. After studying art in Iceland and at the School of Visual Arts in New York, he pursued a career in psychology, which led to a long hiatus from his artistic practice. In 2012, he reignited his passion for photography, and by early 2015 returned to painting. Since then, art has taken precedence in his life, and he now works part-time as a psychologist.
Originally rooted in the expressionist tradition, Ragnar embraces chance and mistakes as essential elements of the creative process. Influenced by his background in furniture making and prosthetics, he often works with industrial materials and techniques. His paintings have a strong physical presence, frequently in large formats, combining oil paint with epoxy resin, carbon fiber, and fiberglass. Layer by layer, the works suggest a hidden depth—an interplay between the unconscious, organic matter, and modernity’s synthetic imprints. Creativity, for him, unfolds at the edge between control and chaos.
His photographic work arises from the same sensibility. It does not aim to document or glorify, but to capture subtle atmospheres and moods within the spaces he encounters. The images are not constructed around commentary or symbolism—things are allowed to exist as they are. His lens is drawn to places that “sing to him,” where presence and perception quietly speak through form, texture, and light. In recent years, elements from his photography have found their way into his paintings, creating new dialogues between the two media.
Whether working with pigment or pixels, Ragnar’s work invites the viewer to pause and look again—to sense the tension between surface and depth, control and surrender, structure and openness.
Photo credit: Timo Battefeld / Jyske Vestkysten