Laurentsius & Co
PAINTINGS “4+1”
November 6 – December 6, 2015
NART – Narva Art Residency
Gallery spaces, 1st floor
Joala 18, 20103 Narva
Hours: Monday-Sunday 11.00-19.00
#NART #narvaartresidency #laurentsius
On display at the Narva exhibition, there are five large 2,5 x 2,5-metre paintings, of which four are floral images and one is a portrait. Such beautiful floral blossoms and portraits are not based on live models but on their visual constructions. The artist has been intrigued by the relationships between reality and illusion, the static and the dynamic, and by those existing between two- and three-dimensional ratios. Some of the paintings were completed by the artist for the exhibition held at the Parikaste House in Tallinn last autumn, where alongside with the painted surfaces and images, he used authentic wallpapers, such as they would have been in an early 20-th century wooden house in Tallinn.
Other works have been created especially for the villa of the former director of the Narva Kreenholm Manufactory, a 19th-century historicist residence. Since his works are rich in cultural connotations, Laurentsius insists that alongside himself, the authors of his paintings are also the artists whose works have been his source of inspiration. The works of both Laurentsius and Morris were on display at the Parikaste House — referring to the father of design and synesthetic artistic thought, William Morris. In Narva, any references to specific partnerships have been left open.
The exhibition programme also includes a painting workshop instructed by the artist, an animation workshop for children based on the motifs of the paintings, and a seminar on early XX century art, concentrating in more detail on industrial art and artistic life in Narva.
The artist Laurentsius has been active on the Estonian art scene since the 1990s. He began in the tandems Tommy & Laurentsius and Laurentsius & A.D.. For the last ten years, he has been working alone. Laurentsius has taught painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
The artist is interested in the relation between the beautiful and the unattractive; how these notions have changed through time and in various cultures. How to depict a banal, overexposed motif in such a way, that it is intriguing to both the artist and the others.
Sincere thanks to the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Gaming Council, Embassy of Germany, Narva Gate, University of Tartu Narva College, Narva City Council and Liviko
Thanks to: Tõnis Saadoja, Jaanus Mikk, Enn Kunila, Elnara Taidre, Karin Taidre, Riina Kindlam, Urmas Luure, Valmar Pappel, Villu Plink, Sven Stamberg, Mauri Gross, Jaanus Villiko, Darja Nikitina, Natalja Voložina, Dmitri Nedopjokin and Eva Sepping.
