Here is a small introduction to the artists group called Kursi Koolkond.

The artist group originally created in 1988 by 4 young men -Peeter Allik, Ilmar Kruusamäe, Priit Pangsepp and Albert Gulk in Estonian town named Tartu is now 36 years later the oldest continuously active group in Estonia.

At least one or two local and international highy professional art exhibitions are organized every year.

The Estonian name Kursi Koolkond refers to the small village of Kursi in central Estonia, with which all founding members had some sort of connection.

As in any band that has been active for a long time, several members have passed through the Kursi Koolkond.  Marko Mäetamm, Reiu Tüür, Imat Suumann and  Külli Suitso have joined the group later. 

I was invited to join by Ilmar Kruusamäe in 2001, when after graduating from university I had already presented a couple of personal painting exhibitions and proved that I belonged among the progressive artists of Tartu and the whole of Estonia. Of course, I was very flattered by the invitation, as the group included artists who were the absolute top performers of Estonian modern art.

It has been the custom of the Kursi Koolkond to invite 1 or two guest painters to participate in its exhibitions.

By now, Marko Mäetamm has left the “band” and also Peeter Allik, who died in 2020.

The following is an excerpt from an article written by estonian art critic Ants Juske ”Kursi is far, Tallinn is even further”:

”Kursi Koolkond artists group arose titling itself for public irony as provincial art. Art Criticism was hooked and for a long time the Kursians were considered to be some kind of nasty fools. The opposition to the established “official” art was also heated by the Kursi style annual almanacs with their parodying and sometimes waspy tone.

By now a lot of water has streamed into the sea and biennale artists, laureates of state art prizes, chairmen, heads, superintendants of Estonian art institutions have sprouted from the Kursi Koolkond. It is interesting that in spite of invisible fusion with the “big” art, the band is still together, as clear confrontation with the “official” art has become somewhat misty. According to the well known opinion of Herbert Read, art groupings stay together approximately for 4 to 5 years. The Kursians have broken all the records. One of the reasons may be that in this case we cannot talk about this school in an ordinary sense. Can anyone explain me what do the hyper-realistic portraits by Ilmar Kruusamäe have in common with Albert Gulk’s surrealistic drawings, the conceptualism of Marko Mäetamm and the grotesqueness of Peeter Allik … etc.

There are of course reasons, the most elemental is in my opinion as the independent, playful and sharp mentality of the Kursi artists. They all have been swimming upstream through every kind of mainstream in Estonian art. You can recognize their works from a distance. The Kursi Koolkond is a school of big personalities.”

For my part

I can only add that the survival of such artists cultivating different painting styles as a group for so long cannot be called only a miracle. Behind this coexistence is largely one man named Ilmar Kruusamäe, who bears the biggest burden of organizing large exhibitions and resolving the inevitable tensions of personalities within the group.

I myself am infinitely grateful to Ilmar and the all Kursi artists and very proud that I have been able to perform with and befriend such remarkable personalities. I definitely owe at least 20% of my artistic career to Kursi Koolkond. Hopefully this experience will continue for a long time.

Priit Pajos 2024

Albert Gulk https://noba.ac/en/artist/albert-gulk/

Ilmar Kruusamäe https://ilmarkruusamae.com/

Priit Pangsepp https://pangsepp.blogspot.com/

Külli Suitso https://kylli.dk/

Imat Suumann https://www.e-kunstisalong.ee/Suumann_1145

Peeter Allik http://www.peeterallik.eu/allikufolder/paintings.html

Reiu Tüür https://paveikslai.lt/en/669_reiu-tuur

In 2005, the gand old man of Estonian cinema Rein Raamat made a documentary film about Kursi Koolkond, which you can watch by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDUa8lEQENE&t=1090s

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I will talk a little about one of my last oilpaintings born at the beginning of 2024, which I named “By the mountain lake”

Of course, we could talk more about the relationship between the paintings and their titles. This is always a bit of a problem for me personally. Sometimes giving a name to a painting is easy and the title even seems to be the only option, but often enough it is just the opposite. 

It has become a tradition that every child has a name, and of course it is also a practical matter. Who would bother memorizing everything, for example, according to the numbers in the order of birth.

The painting in question was named after the principle – less is more. Because the characters, forms and colors of the work were quite varied, the name arose from the central landscape image of the painting – a portrait of a meditating man against a mountain lake.

I actually don’t really like to explain the the subjects of paintings very much, and that’s why all the titles seem a bit redundant.

If my usual painting practice has always been, so to speak, from the central image towards the sides, here things went in the opposite direction.

First, the surrounding less important figures were born during the plywood burning practice, and only then did the central balancing and summarizing core of the painting begin to emerge.

I have to mention again in this article how excited I am about the new possibilities I discovered for myself when I started using the burning technique. hurray!

Since I myself have been experimenting with various meditation practices for many years and am deeply interested in the deepest secrets of consciousness, so the characters meditating and reflecting on life are also natural guests in my paintings.

As difficult as it is to talk about the experience of meditation, it is also difficult to put it into language of painting. Besides, every experience tends to be different. One thing is certain, that anyone who has tried to observe the mind will very quickly meet personal “demons”. “Demon” is, of course, a figurative word. A corresponding non-religious term could be “mental noise” or “compulsive thinking”.

The public response to the painting in question has been very impressive. It seems that no one is left cold “By the mountain lake” – which is of course a good thing. I really appreciate the feedback I receive on my art and I always observe with great interest the self-reflections of viewers standing in front of the works.

The painting is currently exhibited in the personal exhibition PuuSüü in the Tartu Art House Estonia

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“Wild Ones” is a oilpainting done well!

I praise myself too rarely, and that’s why I’m doing it today.

I started preparing for the painting at the beginning of December. Two larger plywood trays with a beautiful pattern were waiting and so I decided to burn them together.

Messing around with a gas burner in a crisp, cold weather in the yard of the country house was a mystical experience in itself.

/see the process on Instagram

I was already very excited from the burning process and couldn’t wait to get started with the painting. The central figure position in the plywood board was clearly established by the allmighty itself, and the paintingtook off from there.

I painted a bit timidly, because I didn’t want to lose the transparency of the surface by repeated repainting, but as the matter progressed, my confidence grew and, as already boasted, I am satisfied with the result.

The theme of crows and ravens was clearly reflected in my life in 2023. We found an apathetic baby crow freezing in the rain in the hay at the edge of the field in the springtime. We popped him all summer until it learned to fly. We went to the city for a week and after coming back we didn’t see the young crow never again. Either he became a meal for the fox or found company among his fellow species, but he was an exciting character and definitely left a mark on my subconscious mind.

I have painted the forest before and many times. Before the latest, I had finished the painting ”In the Woods” made in the same technique, and now ”Wild Ones” – it looked like a series has starting to take shape.

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I will talk a little about the painting called `In the woods.’

I used to make preparatory sketches before starting the paintings on the burnt plywood boards. I planned the compositions of the works quite precisely before starting to paint. However, I have always considered the process of painting itself as important as the end result. Surprises in the course of work are exactly what give things pleasure and excitement.

While burning the wooden boards and planning the artworks, I found that the paintings had started to compose themselves. I don’t have to start ”from scratch” because the fire element has already firmly established itself on the plywood.

In the painting `In the woods, the main composition, which has been bourn from the heat, is very clearly perceptible. The shape of three tree trunks and the white figure form in the center of the work suggested both the theme and the mood of the artwork. What followed was just a symphony born from the cooperation of the subconscious mind and the body.

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