The exhibition „Memory of the Place III“ at Haus Gallery consists of a series of large and middle-scale paintings, in which muted colour schemes recreate powerful references to epic wastelands – whether volcanic plains in Island, rock and sand deserts of North America and and North Africa, or the abstract textures and silhouettes of metropols such as San Fransisco or New York. Yet, the emphasis on urban culture and its marks on walls, surfaces and spaces co-exist in Jaan Elken’s paintings together with more eternal rules. As a painter, he navigates an aesthetically disturbed world which aims to connect to the viewer from a more universal and global position.