The exhibition features paintings by Mall Nukke, Saskia Järve, and Matti Vainio.
In one way or another, all three artists engage with change, its possibility, and the tensions that accompany it. With how we see ourselves, how we present ourselves to others, and how we position ourselves in relation to our surroundings. How the inner becomes outer, and vice versa.
Mall Nukke’s series of paintings comes from her recent exhibition “Avatars of the Past” and depicts scenes familiar to us all from the film “Spring”. The oval canvases refer to the visual language of early family photographs and their recognisable nostalgia, while the paintings ask how we arrived at the present moment and why we are the way we are. There is a fragment of “Spring” in each of us — Toots, Teele, Imelik, or Lible. But are we capable of breaking free from these stereotypes, of changing?
In her new painting series, Saskia Järve continues the theme of her previous exhibition “Becoming New”. She focuses on the human ability to change and recreate oneself — every morning, upon waking, we seem to assemble ourselves anew in preparation for the day ahead. Stepping out of bed, we take the first step, then the second; every step is new, and everything begins again — bodies, growths, and motors.
At the centre of Matti Vainio’s new series of paintings are human bodies arranged in dense and layered compositions. Figures bent to extremes and intertwined with one another. Their poses refer both to physical elasticity and psychological adaptability — to constant transformation. Human bodies shaped in fine lines, along with flowers, fruits, and leaves, form an almost Baroque ornamentation, while the expressions reflect ecstasy, irony, or contentment. The endless circulation of human and nature within a field of tension.
Alongside the opening of the summer exhibition, Villa Dombrovka will also host an art walk and a Long Table Picnic as part of Lahemaa Picnic Day. Tickets for the event are available on Fienta.
