Ari Alexander Ergis Magnússon was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, to an Icelandic father who was a playwright, film and theatre director and a Siberian-Yakutian mother who is an actress and visual artist. Magnusson's mother graduated from the acting school GITIS in Moscow and his father graduated from the legendary film school VGIK where his parents actually first met. They moved to Reykjavik, Iceland from Moscow in 1966 after his father lost faith in the utopian dream of the USSR. Magnússon lived in Aarhus, Danmark 1979-83. He moved to Paris in 1989, studied at the Sorbonne University 1989-90. He earned a BFA in fine arts from Parsons Paris School of Art and Design, 1991-96. Since then he has exhibited his paintings, installations and video work in galleries in Iceland, Danmark, France, England, USA, China, Argentina, Russia and Siberia.
