Missing Artwork from Iceland
Twelve stone faces carved for Art Nordic in Copenhagen never made it out of customs
Icelandic sculptor Jón Adólf Steinólfsson spent six months carving twelve faces and a hand from Icelandic mountain stone for Art Nordic in Copenhagen in March 2026. The crates were held in customs and never reached the fair, so he exhibited the story instead.
Carved from stone carried down from Icelandic mountains
Jón Adólf Steinólfsson is an Icelandic sculptor based in Kópavogur who has carved wood and stone for more than three decades. For Art Nordic in Copenhagen in March 2026 he spent around six months preparing twelve faces and a hand, all carved from stones that he and his wife, Jóhanna Kristín Hauksdóttir, carried home from mountains they had hiked in Iceland.
Jóhanna photographed the mountains and places each stone came from, so that visitors could match every face with its mountain, and prepared posters and flyers introducing Jón and his work.
Stuck in customs
The sculptures were shipped to Denmark in four wooden crates with PostNord, and were held in customs in Copenhagen. Jón and Jóhanna went from the airport straight to PostNord's headquarters in Brøndby, luggage and posters in tow, where a staff member located the crates. Even so, the sculptures were never released, and no clear explanation was given for what was needed to release them.
An exhibition without the artwork
Instead of giving up, they set up the booth with everything they had: photographs of the mountains, a slideshow of the sculptures, Jón's portfolio, and the slogans “Missing artwork from Iceland” and “Keep believing always”. They told the story of the stones to anyone who stopped by, and as word spread through the fair, more and more visitors came to hear it.
When they flew home, the crates were still with PostNord, which said it would send them back to Iceland. The story was covered by Mannlíf: Jón Adólf með eina óvenjulegustu listasýningu Kaupmannahafnar (in Icelandic).
Stone sculpture by Jón Adólf Steinólfsson
Jón trained in stone and marble carving in Azzano and Carrara, Italy, and works mainly in Icelandic stone. His largest stone piece is the giant's head carved from Icelandic dolerite outside the Viking World museum in Njarðvík. He takes commissions for original sculptures in stone and wood.