Eesti kunsti oksjonid
Peeter Allik “Aura veekeskus I”
Sügisoksjon 2025
Oil on canvas. 2003
Signature: Peeter Allik 2003
| Measurements | 151 x 200 cm |
|---|---|
| Starting price | 7 000 € |
| Number of bids | 30 |
| Hammer price | 12 800 € |
Peeter Allik is a grand master of Estonian visual absurdity and the grotesque, a unique apostle of black humor in our art. In both oil and printmaking, he unleashed his craziest ideas on the viewer with a bang and left no one unmoved. One of the most realistic paintings by Peeter Allik depicts a scene from a public swimming pool.
The situation is absurdly comical: a woman in a swimsuit stretches her hand with a cross towards a hole in the floor of the swimming pool. Is it the mouth of hell? Is it an exorcism? The painter Mall Nukke also calls what is happening a “Peeter-like” wonderful absurd situation: “Peeter has depicted the woman carrying the cross as a strange creature – as if she were not a sane being? The painting itself is subdued, with a greenish-bluish tone, where the only illuminating element is the female figure in a swimsuit.”
As usual, Allik raises unusual questions for the viewer and does not provide clear answers. However, the atmosphere of the modern spa suggests that the action takes place in our time. The work is reproduced in the book accompanying Peeter Allik’s powerful solo exhibition “Cultivated Schizophrenia” on page 129 (Tartu Art Museum, 2017).
Text: Harry Liivrand, Mall Nukke