Already in its third year, the Tallinn Photomonth ’15 began on 17 September this year. The Festival was launched for the first time in 2011 by a group of artists engaged in the field of photography and video, with the aim of making the event a biennial of contemporary art and visual culture. However, it has exceeded the goal which was set and now it portrays the developments in art and society via cameras, screens and images. During this autumn, the Tallinn Photomonth ’15 will include exhibitions opened in several museums, art halls and both public and commercial galleries, which are in addition contextualized with public events and an education programme for schools.
Until the end of October, there is a great opportunity to visit the Codex Naturalis exhibition by Estonian photographer Peeter Laurits at Vaal Gallery. The author describes the concept of the exhibition as ‘wild aesthetics’ by which he attempts to demonstrate the point where consciousness meets the unconsciousness. The majority of the pieces are made by the method of pigment printing on a range of various surfaces such as canvas and aluminum composite or platinum-palladium print. The pictures appeared to be multi-layered and blurred at the borders, where one line flows in another pattern and that is why works are unique and special.
The set of pictures called ‘not a day without a line’ portray the lines of wires or highly technological micro-schemes flowing into wooden textures of tree trunks. Another group of works, made with the method of diasec (printing on acrylic sheets), demonstrate the bright and colorful lines of urban maps. Also, there is one part of a monochrome illustration – white patterns on the black surface. All these pictures are working together well with the underlying concept introduced by the author that for each person there is a unique model of consciousness, varying from forests and rivers to nano-clouds. The Codex Naturalis exhibition has many prospects to impress and to trigger your deepest thoughts, therefore, if you go for that, until the end of October, Vaal Gallery is the right place for you.
Peeter Laurits has had a big impact on Estonian cultural space since the beginning of late 80’s. He has been educated in Tallinn, St Petersburg, Tartu, and New York and exhibited worldwide since 1989. Also, his works have been acquired by many private collections and museums.
