Artist Study: Spiegel im Spiegel
The two-session workshop is inspired by the exhibition “Spiegel im Spiegel: Encounters between Estonian and German Art from Lucas Cranach to Arvo Pärt and Gerhard Richter” and will be instructed in English.
On Fridays, 13.03 & 20.03 I 17.30–19.30
Participants will explore how artists from different eras and cultures have responded to shared historical experiences, mentality and human emotions. Ideas thus generated will be translated into individual visual works using oil pastels. The goal is to combine observation and expression, and to learn how colour, texture and rhythm can reflect inner experiences and creative dialogues.
During the first session we will explore the concept of the exhibition and the main artist pairs (Wiiralt and Dix, Mägi and Pechstein, and Pärt and Richter). We will discuss what an artistic dialogue is about and take a closer look at how artists from different times or countries “talk” to each other via form, mood or topic. We will acquaint ourselves with such techniques of oil pastel as layering, pressure, texture and mixing colours. There will be quick colour and composition exercises inspired by works displayed at the exhibition.
In the second session each participant will choose a pair of artists or a work that he or she relates to the most, and will create his or her own interpretation of it or a “response” in oil pastels, focusing on emotional tonality and colour dialogue, i.e. the aim is not to copy a work. At the end of the workshop, we will contemplate the works together and draw conclusions.
The participants will gain a better understanding of how artistic ideas travel and change over the centuries and across cultures. The practical part of the workshop will enable participants to explore – based on the dominant theme of the exhibition, i.e. reflecting and dialogues between times, nations and personalities – how oil pastels facilitate expressing emotion, atmosphere and individual reflection.
Andrei Kedrin is an artist and art instructor who mainly focuses on illustration, drawing and street art. He initiated the Wednesday Sketching series of art events and co-founded the street art collective Sodacats.
