Drunken Buddha and the rest

It has been fourteen years (!) since the last personal exhibition in Estonia

After such a long break, one could feel uncertain about coming back to the Estonian art scene. Moreover, the opportunity to make the exhibition came unexpectedly, barely four weeks before the deadline. However, the feeling is quite strong. The Small gallery of the former hometown Tartu Art House is a familiar place and easy to manage due to its size of only 56m2. Rather, the anticipation is to see the entire existing new painting set as a whole in one room. In addition, I plan to approach the design of the hall in an innovative way for myself and expand the dimensions of the paintings slightly outside the frames.

Let`s see how this gonna turn out 😉

The new approach to the painting technique has also brought new ideas in terms of exhibiting the artworks. However, you shouldn’t expect anything very experimental – I think that the paintings themselves must carry the exhibition by themselves and everything else should be in the role of a supporter.

The name of the exhibition is PuuSüü (Woodgrain). I’m sure you get the hint, I’ve collected my works painted on wood, or mainly plywood, for the exhibition. I probably started using plywood as a base material between 1998 and 2000. I fell in love with wood patterns for the first time when I painted the piece “Drunken Buddha”. At that time, one did not realize or could not see anything but a beautiful background pattern in these shapes. It is interesting that they remained haunted as a potential in the subconscious until today, when I have found an opportunity to “work” the woodgrain more concretely in my favor.

I also borrowed “Drunken Buddha” painted in 2000 from the Tartu Art Museum for the purpose of the exhibition. Respect to the person who at that time decided in favor of the purchase of this work. At the time, I didn’t think very much of this painting. By the way, in my opinion, the artwork has also gotten better over time. The background has been drawn a little darker and the patterns therefore show themselves more forcefully. Moreover, the Buddha has only been displayed at exhibitions a few times.

But come and have a look and I hope I can offer you an experience in any case.

Be happy,

Priit