ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: ICELANDIC ARTIST MELANIE UBALDO
-
Scandinavia Standard
08.04.2020
-
Scandinavia Standard ︎
Born in the Philippines and raised in Iceland, Ubaldo has lived on the Nordic island for more than half of her life and is now based in Reykjavík. It’s a journey that has inspired her considerably as an artist and laid the foundation for most of her work.
Ubaldo describes her work as intimate, monumental, and provocative to the audience. The enormity of her work juxtaposes the delicate methods she uses. With personal billboards embodying immense detail, she publicizes the private. “I’m lucky enough that people are rude, misogynist, and racist to me – I keep it in my sketchbook for later use,” Ubaldo states sarcastically. Social interaction and text play enormous roles in Ubaldo’s work, this is how she transforms negative social experiences into visual art.
With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland University of the Arts) and a keen interest in written word and architecture, Ubaldo combines all of these aspects in her art. She also belongs to a collective called Lucky 3.
We spoke to Ubaldo about the social aspect of her work, Lucky 3, and the source of her inspiration:
![]()
Ubaldo describes her work as intimate, monumental, and provocative to the audience. The enormity of her work juxtaposes the delicate methods she uses. With personal billboards embodying immense detail, she publicizes the private. “I’m lucky enough that people are rude, misogynist, and racist to me – I keep it in my sketchbook for later use,” Ubaldo states sarcastically. Social interaction and text play enormous roles in Ubaldo’s work, this is how she transforms negative social experiences into visual art.
With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Listaháskóli Íslands (Iceland University of the Arts) and a keen interest in written word and architecture, Ubaldo combines all of these aspects in her art. She also belongs to a collective called Lucky 3.
We spoke to Ubaldo about the social aspect of her work, Lucky 3, and the source of her inspiration:
