Published
in KesKus in September 2013, p. 16
REAPPEARANCE
OF ABSTRACT ART
by
Heie Treier
Let
us first shed some light on the background of the current exhibition since
abstract art and its status still need some explanation.
Censoring
abstraction
Abstractionism,
that is the theory or practice of abstract art, has generally had a fixed
meaning in the art history of 20th century, associating with the
triumphal culmination of Modernist movement where the art of painting lost
figurativeness and took an interest only in its intrinsic issues (colour, line,
canvas) and the metaphysics of idealistic philosophy. During the era of the
Cold War, abstract painting also had a hidden political meaning, designating
the economical, political and cultural hegemony of the United States of America
along with the opposition to the attack of Socialism. In the Soviet Republic of
Estonia in 1960s there were several cases where abstractionists were censored
and one of the most charismatic abstract artists living in Tartu, Lola Liivat,
was labelled as an American spy without her even knowing it. The form or
aesthetics of art according to Modernist standards was almost a matter of life
and death.
No
wonder that at the end of the Cold War, during the era of the so-called
Postmodern art in 1980s and 1990s, abstract art as formalism was pushed aside
from the frontline of art since the new art theory with the background of
social sciences was unable to give abstract art an appropriate meaning. And
now, in the 21st century, reappearance of abstractionism in the
field of art can be observed, together with the actualization of modern art,
both locally and internationally.
The
abovementioned should serve as a prologue to the co-exhibition of Jaanika
Peerna's drawings and Tuuli Mann's paintings in Haus gallery, Tallinn, Estonia.
Jaanika Peerna's work is especially interesting considering the fact that after
graduating from the academy of arts in Tallinn the artist moved to New York
where she also obtained a degree of fine arts; thus, Peerna has indirectly
joined the former political opponents of the Cold War while interpreting
abstract art in a totally different way. And oddly enough, her work reflects
both the traditions of Estonian female printmakers as well as American
triumphal abstract expressionism.
Materialized
nature
JaanikaPeerna won't mystify the birth of her artwork – in her public performances, the
artist has revealed her creative process, willing to teach it to the audience.
She seems to give both her mind and body to the forces of nature – the wind,
the sea, the air, and the sound waves (high quality audio recordings of the
sounds of nature) – while drawing lines on paper according to these forces. The
images on paper are the occasional yet regular visualizations of materialized
energy. Jaanika uses special soft graphite pencils that register the flow of
energy either through delicate or strong movements. Jaanika tunes herself in
hypersensitivity; she collaborates with other artists, including choreographers
and dancers, even scientists such as her husband David Rothenberg - a
philosopher and musician who has studied and documented the sounds of nature,
the music of animals, birds and insects.
In
the context of art history, there is the hypersensitivity characteristic to Estonian
female printmakers of various generations (Marju Mutsu, Naima Neidre, Ülle
Marks and others) in Jaanika's work; and on the other side, there is the
painting technique similar to the one by Jackson Pollock who also placed his
canvases on the ground during the painting process. In contemporary times, it
is not a precondition for an artist to live in USA, to be male and to get drunk
for working with a painting in order to release one's subconsciousness in a
Freudian way. Abstract painting or drawing is no longer necessarily associated
with emotional suffering (that was required from the artists in 1950s) nor with
the interpretation of the aesthetics of Immanuel Kant where art had to be the
symbiosis of ultimate spiritual suffering and ultimate joy in order to achieve
sublimity.
Jaanika
Peerna's delicate drawings have been born out of lightness while pursuing the
surrounding processes and atmospheric vibrations that function the best when
observing the course of line within the whole artwork.
The
secure idea of the forest
The
paintings of young artist Tuuli Mann are perfectly accompanying the
abovementioned ideas – her artwork studies the phenomenon of Estonian forest
that is inseparable from the natural and cultural identity of the country. In
her abstract paintings, Mann depicts the forest mainly as a green, peaceful and
secure place, following the deepest psychiological needs of a human being. What
is probably being the objective here is to find the essence, the idea of the
forest instead of its physical appearance. Indeed, it is an astonishing fact
that the forest (similarly to the sea)
as a phenomenon has not been studied that much in Estonian art; perhaps the
reason is that for local people the forest is too self-explanatory and common –
but it is not so.
The
combination of Peerna's and Mann's artwork is harmonious – both artists have
chosen nature to be their primary source of inspiration, elevated into
aesthetics.
Jaanika
Peerna's and Tuuli Mann's co-exhibition „The Silence of Forest Sounds“ in Haus gallery is open until September 27, 2013.
translated from Estonian: Maris Karjatse
