An exhibition “Malian Pastorale” by the Estonian artist Karl-Erik Talvet will open at the Meno Parkas Gallery (Rotušės a. 27, Kaunas) on Wednesday, the 3rd of March, without an opening reception event. The paintings featured in the exhibition are based on personal experience, when he served as a soldier in Mali, in 2019.
“In contrast to my earlier paintings with which I tried to realistically depict the daily lives of deployed soldiers, this exhibition is mostly focused on the exotic side of Africa, although it doesn’t depict Africa as a touristic paradise. I’ve also distanced myself from my earlier semi-realistic approach and I’ve painted all the paintings using palette knives, which gives them a somehow “magical” atmosphere.
One of the questions raised by this exhibition is: do we, Europeans, have to intervene in such foreign conflicts that has been going on for quite a while, now, and also try to bring some kind of aid to the local populations, or is it better that we just step aside and leave these matters in the Africans’ own hands? The complicated situation makes it, alas, difficult to find a definitive answer.
Until an answer is found, this war keeps going on, unfortunately.” (Karl-Erik Talvet)
Karl-Erik Talvet (b. 1991) lives and works in Tallinn. 2018
graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts where he obtained a master's degree
in painting. 2016–2017 also studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.
He mainly works in the fields of painting and comics’ art. Held 7 solo
exhibitions, and since 2010 participates in group exhibitions in Estonia,
Italy, and Lithuania. Karl-Erik Talvet is a member of the Estonian Painters'
Association and the Estonian Comics Association.
Exhibition is part of gallery's project "Art Line". Project is partly financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and Kaunas City Municipality.