Kaarel Kurismaa

As Kaarel Kurismaa is primarily known as a sound and installation artist, the two-dimensional work with his authorship here is news for those who know the history of recent Estonian art. This is clearly not a painting painted with a brush. There is something technicist or kinetic about it. The artist has apparently used the method he invented to make oscillations and waves visible, and the corresponding surface treatment. After all, a sound and installation artist’s tools are electric and similar devices. Kaarel Kurismaa’s artist-identity takes root in the pop art of the 1960s and the humour-filled worldview of the time à la the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. Kurismaa has also created his own version of the cheerful monument to the means of transport – the tram. It is located in the middle of the Tram Park roundabout on Pärnu highway, and it was taken under state protection in 2019 and renovated in 2022. In connection with Kaarel Kurismaa’s 80th birthday, his art has undergone rediscovery and a new stardom with the support of the younger generation of artists and art historians.