Hreinn Friðfinnsson was born in Bær Dölum, Iceland in 1943 and has lived and worked in Amsterdam, The Netherlands since 1971. He graduated from the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts in Reykjavik in 1958 and co-founded the influential Icelandic artist group SÚM in 1969. Friðfinnsson has exhibited widely internationally, including major solo shows at the Malmö Konsthall in Malmö, Sweden (1978 and 2008); Le Magasin-Centre national d’art contemporain in Grenoble, France (1987); the National Gallery in Reykjavik, Iceland (1993); the Kyoto Art Center, Japan (2002); the Domaine de Kerguéhennec in Bignan, France (2002); the Serpentine Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2007); the Centre d’art Contemporain in Geneva, Switzerland (2010); the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin, Germany (2019); and the Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida, United States (2021-2022). In 1993, Friðfinnsson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennale, and in 2000, he received the prestigious Ars Fennica Prize.