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Siiber/Chimney damper

Siiber/Chimney damper © EP 2021

Estonia, 2001

Acrylic and oil on board, 275 x 170 cm

Purchased via Ou Munster (Tallinn) in 2007


Alice Kask’s technical skill as a painter supports the poetic sur-reality she depicts in her works. A graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts where she specialised in painting (1999), the artist has represented a needed new voice in the Estonian contemporary era. Since its earliest stages, her work has manifested indirect ties with surrealism, namely via a superimposed use of the ‘fragment’. Siiber/Chimney damper is, in that regard, a good study case. The elements that compose the painting are themselves fragments: a rustic fireplace surrounded by sections of bricks the outlines of which can be surmised. Presented through two points of views, the fireplace appears self-sufficient, extracted from its architectonic context for closer observation. The sentiment of this painting being a whole made of parts is accentuated by the almost clinical surreal backdrop that completely alienates the featured elements from all reality, enhancing their fractured quality. This method is reminiscent of Magritte subversive depictions where the featured object’s nature was negated through such visual isolation. Nimanda, Kask’s other work from the European Parliament Contemporary Art Collection, puts forth another facet of the fragment. Indeed, the artwork’s surface being a piece of plywood visibly extracted from the larger whole, its angular shape leads the viewer to question its origin and puzzle its initial structure back together. Piece by piece, Kask deconstructs and rebuild the world around her.

More artists from the following country:
Estonia

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Siiber/Chimney damper

Alice KASK

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