Jón Óskar had a major influence on the layout of daily and weekly newspapers in the 1980s and 1990s. Grímur Kolbeinsson talks to the artist about his career in the latest episode of Augnablik í iðnaði.
“You don't just walk into a newspaper that's like an institution and tear it down like Jesus in the temple of old,” says artist Jón Óskar with a smile as he reminisces about the old and vibrant times in Icelandic media. For years, Jón Óskar handled the layout design for daily newspapers, weekly magazines, books, and later, multimedia companies. He founded the successful company Gagarin, which his brother runs today. Jón Óskar says he stumbled into his studies at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts. There, however, he quickly found his calling, and alongside his studies, he soon began working on newspaper layouts. He worked at Vísir and at Helgarpósturinn (the first one).
A lively scene in New York sparked an idea
Jón Óskar moved to New York, where he studied art at the prestigious School of Visual Arts. New York had a lively design and art scene, and Jón Óskar was captivated by the exciting layouts of papers like the short-lived Soho News and the Village Voice. He returned home and designed the second Helgarpósturinn, which was under the editorship of Halldór Halldórsson and Ingólfur Margeirsson. He was likely heavily influenced by the Village Voice when he designed the paper, enlarging photos and headlines. As he says himself, he didn't tear down any temples. “You could get away with that with Helgarpósturinn.”
The world of media was fun
He then worked on the exciting layout of Mannlíf, which was edited by Herdís Þorgeirsdóttir at the time. “She was very ambitious, and the magazine didn't just cover fashion and conduct interviews; it also provided good political analysis.” Jón Óskar later worked on Pressan, Eintak, and Alþýðublaðið, which was edited by the late Hrafn Jökulsson. He says he enjoyed working with art in the world of media with fun and imaginative people. “Alþýðublaðið was a tremendously fun paper at that time; it had such a strong editorial team. Jakob Bjarnar, Egill Helgason, Kolbrún Bergþórsdóttir, and then Gunnar Smári also joined the paper.”