New Colourful Art at Kumu
Text Timo Raussi Photo Estonian Art Museum
Kristi Kongi’s oil painting “Twilight Sky. Hope.”
This summer, Kumu Art Museum will present colourful abstract art through two new exhibitions.
For the first time, the museum’s main hall will host an exhibition by an Estonian female contemporary artist representing a modern artistic direction. “Chromatic Drift” by Kristi Kongi, Associate Professor of Painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts, will be on display. According to the artist, the word “drift” in the exhibition title refers to a poetic way of existing in an undefined state.
In collaboration with curator Ann Mirjam Vaikla, Kongi has expanded the colours and themes of her paintings, normally created on canvas or paper, onto the museum hall’s floors, walls, windows, and outdoor courtyard using materials such as plexiglass, plastic film, and ceramic tiles. The immersive sensory and spatial works have been created specifically for this exhibition.
Kumu’s approximately 1000-square-metre main hall is now serving for the first time as a presentation space for new works by an Estonian female artist. According to museum director Kadi Polli, this is a rare occasion, and among male artists only Jaan Toomik in 2007 and Kaido Ole in 2012 have previously exhibited there.
Kongi’s work consists of traditional oil paintings and watercolours as well as spatial art and installations, influenced by monumental painting and her numerous travels to Mexico. Her works have been acquired by the Estonian Art Museum, Tartu Art Museum, the European Central Bank, the European Patent Office, and private collectors around the world.
The “Chromatic Drift” exhibition will be on display from 22 May to 11 October, and until the end of September it can also be visited on Mondays at a reduced admission price while the rest of the museum remains closed. Kumu’s café and restaurant near the Kadriorg Park entrance is also open every day of the week, although on Mondays only until 15:00 during lunchtime hours.
Another smaller exhibition of richly coloured works will be shown from 29 May to 18 October in the project space on Kumu’s fourth floor. It features brightly coloured plywood and wooden works by one of the best-known expatriate Estonians, Enno Hallek, born in 1931 and forced to flee to Sweden during the Second World War. The works extend beyond their frames, even striving towards a sculptural form.
Hallek’s works are modular, meaning they are assembled from separate parts using thumb screws and can later be dismantled into compact transportable pieces, much like the essential belongings of a refugee crossing the sea. The vivid colours of the works and the exhibition title “Portable Sunset” reflect the artist’s childhood spent by the sea and on its waves.
Enno Hallek passed away on New Year’s Eve last year, and one of his final wishes was for at least part of his art to return to Estonia. The artist’s daughter therefore signed an agreement with the Estonian Art Museum to donate 13 major works created by her father between 1990 and 2010 to the museum’s collection.
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