Haukur has spent over 60 years making art and designs. He has a wide range of work including drawings, paintings, divination cards and a variety of objects and sculptures. One of his most prominent works is the Arctic Henge (pictured above), a series of circles and basalt columns that began construction in 2004 at the village of Raufarhöfn in northeastern Iceland. It has a diameter of 52 meters and references the earths around the sun, marking the winter and summer solstice and equinoxes with numerous references to the dwarfs in Norse mythology.
He was born in Reykjavík on 4 July 1937. He worked as a sailor for ten years and then studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts. After moving to the Danish capital, Copenhagen, he returned to Iceland where he worked in advertising.
As an experienced designer, Haukur also dipped into the world of board gaming. In 1977 he designed the game Útvegsspilið (The Fishery Game) together with Tómas Tómasson and Jón Jónsson. In the game, players compete by earning money in the fishing industry. It became a big success in Iceland.
His first art exhibition was at Gallery Djupið in Reykjavik in 1978 with Einar Þorsteinn Ásgeirsson. His first solo exhibition was in Reykjavik in 1980 at Gallery Torg run by the composer Jóhann G. Jóhannson, An exhibition that raced him to prominence as an artist focusing on folklore with his Troll drawings. Since then he has made numerous exhibitions in Europe, China and in the US. He works in various media, painting, sculpture, jewellery and explores most any methods of arts.
Haukur has spent his professional life exploring the themes of the folklore of his home country Iceland and of Northern Europe, including Celtic myths and most notably Nordic mythology in his art. He has made numerous drawings and illustrations on the subjects.
Haukur has traveled widely to examine art; to China, various countries in Europe, and the United States. In New Mexico, he spent time with indigenous Navajo people and observed the art of sand-casting, which he later applied in his own art.
His works from 1989 to date combine disparate elements from worlds of the Nordic Mythology, from a wide range of folklore and everyday experience.
Much of his practice revolves around north European folklore and Norse mythology. He has gathered information about historical pagan European calendars and myths associated with different parts of the year, which has been the basis for some of his works.
