Eesti kunsti oksjonid
Jüri Arrak “Kuldvasikas”
Sügisoksjon 2025
Silkscreen on paper. 1990.
Signature: “Kuldvasikas” siiditrükk 17/100 / J. Arrak 90.
| Measurements | km 37 x 51 cm |
|---|---|
| Starting price | 1 700 € |
| Number of bids | 1 |
| Hammer price | 1 700 € |
One of Jüri Arrak’s (1936-2022) most famous works from 1990 brilliantly emphasizes the essence of the Golden Calf, symbolizing the worship of mammon. The work, illustrating a scene from the Old Testament, is one of the most suggestive of the series of works on this subject, depicting human greed and baseness in the form of an unbridled bacchanalia.
It is noteworthy that Arrak maintains a visual dialogue with the visionary work of H. Bosch and P. Brueghel in his work. In order to capture the illusion of the outwardly brilliant gold and to amplify the message, the artist adds a dark background to the animal, because as art historian Jüri Hain has said in his 2006 book about Arrak: “For the viewer, there can be no multiple understandings – worshiping a false god is truly dark and total.”
The work is reproduced in the above book on page 55.
Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm