Jüri Kaarma. The Black Horse and Other Drawings
Location: 4th floor, Cabinet of Prints and Drawings
The exhibition focuses on the early creative period of the book designer Jüri Kaarma. The exhibition takes us back to the 1970s and presents the story of Kaarma’s self-discovery as an independent artist.
“The exhibition has been named for the artist’s term project, which at the time marked the beginning of a story of confrontation related to art innovation,” Eha Komissarov, the curator of the exhibition said. “The leporello completed in 1974 as his term project elicited discussions about book design at the State Art Institute of the Estonian S.S.R. that resulted in conflicts and Jüri Kaarma’s expulsion from the school.”
Jüri Kaarma’s leporello The Black Horse, which is almost seven meters long when unfolded, combines photo-based charcoal drawings, gouache sketches and ink drawings, with each page dealing with a separate topic. The charm of The Black Horse is hidden in the randomness characteristic of the format and the element of surprise. The descriptions of states of mind, reality and fantasy constitute a unique whole, and the only connective traits are the photo-based drawings of the black horse.
The exhibition includes a collection of photos that introduce Jüri Kaarma’s experiments in the field of conceptual photography. As the Art Institute’s photo master, Kaarma was in the habit of making contact prints from all the rolls of exposed film and archiving them. On a sheet of paper, he lined up the rows of contact prints under each other, thereby creating an interesting serial effect. In this way, the rolls of film were made viewable and the arrangement of the frames created a narrative weft that resembles the changing images inherent in film art.
At the exhibition, the public will also see Jüri Kaarma’s series of 13 freehand charcoal drawings called Deaths and Entrances, which was completed in 1979. The work is based on a poetry collection of the same name, which includes the best works of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and which has been repeatedly translated by Paul-Eerik Rummo.
Jüri Kaarma (1950–2011) became known as the designer of the Vikerkaar and Looming magazines and the Looming Library book series. Jüri Kaarma’s designs for books on Estonian cultural and architectural history, as well as monographs on Estonian Modernist artists, merit recognition. Kaarma studied in the art class of Tallinn’s 46th Secondary School along with future art innovators Ando Keskküla, Andres Tolts, Urmas Pedanik and Jüri Okas. In 1971, Kaarma started his studies in graphics and book design at the State Art Institute of the Estonian S.S.R., but his studies were interrupted when he was expelled in 1974. From 1974 to 1976, Kaarma was the photo master in the Art Institute’s Graphics Department. In 1981, Jüri Kaarma became a member of the Estonian S.S.R. Artists’ Union as a book designer.
Curator: Eha Komissarov
Exhibition design: Aadam Kaarma
