Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 2009.
SIGNATURE: LAURENTSIUS & CO. MAPPLETHORP’S CALLA LILY 2.11 2009 OIL ON CANVAS 60 X 60 cm.

The independent master of Estonian metaphysical painting, Lauri Sillak aka Laurentsius (b. 1969), who is also an unsurpassed painter of pastiche, engages in a creative dialogue with the beloved motif of the legendary American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Laurentsius, as a virtuosic painter and copyist of illusionistic spaces, demonstrates the copying of one of Mapplethorpe’s photo compositions into oil paint without damaging the underlying material in any way.

Due to the extremely subtle and refined painting style, however, we find ourselves wondering whether what we see is really a painting or a photograph? Laurentius’ highly acclaimed series of paintings combines new and old, contemporary and timeless aesthetics. The latter is expressed in a conscious “wearing” of the surface, with which he visually hypnotizes the viewer as if between two times. Or does he lead us away from the classical concept of time?

Text: Harry Liivrand, Katre Palm