Iceland Journal

Sketch by David Collier.

Hamilton-based cartoonist David Collier is the creator of the acclaimed Collier’s series and Just the Facts, both published by Drawn & Quarterly. Collier is attending the NINE Comics Festival exhibition at the Reykjavik Art Museum in Reykjavik, Iceland. What follows are his written and sketched impressions of that trip.

Day 3

How did the opening of NINE – Comics by the Harbour at the Reykjavik Art Museum go? I wish I knew.

The day began with a trip to the Reykjavik Family Park. “We'll have a good opportunity to go to the show tonight,” I told Jen, my wife. “There’s a banquet at 8:30.” The banquet appeals, not least for the free food. I live in a part of Canada — Hamilton — that is popular with newly released prisoners because of its low cost of living. It’s a little rough sometimes, but I figure so was Paris in the 1920s. Artists gotta go for the low cost of living. So it’s a shock to be in a country that is so expensive, even by European standards. Just now, I discovered that the pack of dental floss that I bought for a rock-bottom price at a Food Basics in Hamilton only contains .0005 mm of thread. So now I'm going to have to buy some floss at Icelandic prices! Oh woe…

Our hotel is paid for by the art museum and it comes with a breakfast buffet, which features a pickled fish that is quickly becoming a staple of my diet. These free breakfasts are the time to see the other artists who have travelled to be part of the exhibition/festival. The Finnish cartoonist Pentti Otsamo arrived with his wife and one-year-old child yesterday. This morning, I caught up with my colleague from Canada — or rather Quebec — Julie Doucet. We all puzzled over an item in today's edition of a local newspaper, DV, which listed all our names, next to some times. With the help of Oliver, the seemingly ever-present front desk clerk, the page was translated as a report of a signing event we are to attend at a bookstore. Thankfully, it doesn't take place until tomorrow.

So to the Reykjavik Family Park, home of the Zoo. It's a cold day, with a stiff breeze blowing in off the sea. It's enough to make the woman taking park admissions comment about the wind blowing from the north. “And there's icebergs floating this way that have broken off from Greenland, making it feel even colder.” It wasn't cold enough, I noticed, to cause the admissions lady to want to close the door of the gift shop she worked in. And it seems a fair number of shops and public buildings in Reykjavik have no problem with leaving their door and windows open, even on biting winter days like this one.

The island sits on a searing hot mass of molten rock that expresses itself in hot springs. The Geysir after which geysers everywhere are named still shoots off at regular intervals here. So even though double-paned glass seems unheard of, indoor life is comfortable here, so abundant is the supply of the geo-thermal hot water that pumps through radiators everywhere.

It’s a pleasant scene at the zoo, seeing the Icelandic families enjoying themselves. And the animals of Iceland — especially the seals — seem to have pretty high morale. After visiting the zoo, Jen swore she'd never eat pork again. “Their eyes,” she said, “they look at you like a human.”

Well, we'll see about that. In the meantime, we've got a big chow-down ahead of us at the banquet after a brisk walk across town. To the art museum, where we'll finally get to see the show in its entirety. To the art museum, where the banquet is to start at 8:30. I thought if we showed up early we could take in the show before dinner. Almost as a lesson for showing up too early, we were sent away by the staff at the front desk. It's not your opening tonight, we were told, come back tomorrow. Jeez. I felt stupid as we repaired to the restaurant across the street.