Eesti kunsti oksjonid

Oil on canvas. 2020.
Signature: MARI KURISMAA EILNE MAAILM 2 2020

The acclaimed painter and interior designer Mari Kurismaa (b. 1956) has, among other things, curated numerous prestigious art exhibitions, one of the latest being “Sooster 100. A View from Private Collections” at the Mikkel Museum, which opened in October of this year. In the autumn of 2025, Kumu will host her own retrospective exhibition, which will introduce the artist’s delicate aesthetics from the beginning of her creative path in the 1970s to the present day.

“Yesterday’s world 2”, which was exhibited at the Tallinn Art Hall exhibition “Sirja Liisa Eelmaa and Mari Kurismaa. Repeating Patterns” (curated by Tamara Luuk) in 2021, was not accidentally chosen as its cover image. Its delicate, modest, yet self-aware features also characterize the artist herself, who has described herself as the wind in her static landscapes.

“Patterns have fascinated me since childhood, I feel like they have a special charm and wisdom, and the same goes for these blades of grass and leaves,” Kurismaa explains in an interview with the curator. “They have both been old loves of mine.” (https://www.kunstihoone.ee/programm/korduvad-mustrid/#gallery)

Artist Mall Nukke finds Eastern influences in the piece, saying: “Mari Kurismaa’s aesthetics are definitely inspired by Japanese art. The subdued state of the colors, the delicate half-tones, the compositional distribution, taking into account the universal golden ratio. All of this points to the painter’s excellent sensitivity. The spatial distribution and plant systematization create a calm and thoughtful painting space.”

In addition to awards for painting, Mari Kurismaa has also received interior architecture awards, one of the most recent of which was for the interior design of one of the most beautiful buildings in Estonia, the Eisma Port (together with Indrek Allmann, received in 2015).

Text: Katre Palm, Mall Nukke