Having been vitally engaged in arts for decades, Arrak is still relevant to this day. He comes from the most important generation of Estonian art history and has created a dignified and valuable core to this art landscape. After the powerful coming of Pallas and after its impressionist stamp was replaced by socialist realism, the artists of the Soviet era morphed into a new generation from whom, in turn, a generation yearning for a free world formed by the 1960s. This is the background from which Jüri Arrak and his specific style comes from. Despite being widely recognised, the artist has never gone down the easier route or created works that would be popular and applause-earning; his name is associated with staying true to his spirituality; a resolute and consistent calling for recognition of the real meaning of being a human.

Jüri Arrak (1936) attended the Estonian State Art Institute in 1961 where he studied metalwork; however, he was also interested in painting and graphics. During his studies he and his peers and comrades were members of the group ANK’64 – a collective that embraced Western trends of art.  He has worked as an artist both in the metal and film industry and been a professor of free arts at the University of Tartu; since 1969 he has been a freelancer. He has been acclaimed with the Kristjan Raud art award, the Konrad Mägi medal and the II Class of Order of the White Star.

Jüri Arrak has been an artist of Haus Gallery since its inception, i.e., for more than 18 years. In connection with his 80th anniversary, the gallery has dedicated a whole exhibition hall to the artist so as to present a cross-section of his best works, which will subsequently be offered for sale at the spring auction. This year’s auction differs from earlier ones in that it includes such a volume of works from one artist and also a diverse selection of other works from the first decades of the past century until modern artists, from Konrad Mägi and Eduard Wiiralt to Lemming Nagel and Jüri Arrak.