Thrandur Thorarinsson was born in Akureyri (in northern Iceland) in 1978. After finishing high school he enrolled in the Icelandic academy of arts, but dropped out after the first year, due the heavy emphasis placed there on conceptual art, and the schools complete disregard for painting techniques, composition and model drawing. Subsequently he started his apprenticeship with Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, who paints in the manner of the old masters, most notably Rembrandt and Titian. The apprenticeship lasted almost four years and had a lasting impact.

Thrandur also holds a masters degree in philosophy. His first big solo exhibition was held in Reykjavik (the Jónson & Kaaber house) 2008. There he displayed many themes that would appear frequently in his work, most notably Icelandic folklore, but also Icelandic sagas and history. All the works were narrative, painted with oil on canvas, which remains the artists medium of choice. Since then he has had a dozen exhibitions in Iceland and in Denmark. Common subjects found in his paintings, in addition to the aforementioned, are political satire, landscapes, cityscapes, northern mythology and subjects from popular culture and pop music. Romanticism, nostalgia, anachronisms are recurring themes and his work is generally characterised by a preoccupation with the past.