225:(2001), displays a certain homage to the themes related to Vienna Actionism, which were important to Toomik in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It shows a man (an amateur actor and performance artist Alar Sudak a.k.a. Elaan) in the middle of the muddy field whose genitals are tied to a stake or a rod through a long piece of white bandage, making him look “castrated”. It is also one of the earliest examples in Toomik’s video art when he turns the camera away from himself and experiments with documentary approach.
190:, desert onto the back of a truck driving from Tartu to Tallinn in the darkness of the autumn night. The 200 km drive on the trail of the “video-mobile” was documented from the following car. Among other things, on the video documentation of this work, Sirje Helme (then the director of Estonia’s Contemporary Art Centre) can be briefly seen explaining the art project to the traffic police.
182:, where the casually dressed artist is seen on the rear deck of a ferry dancing to the hypnotic rhythm of the engines (indirectly echoing the Estonia cruise ferry disaster that occurred on 28 September 1994). In 1997, Toomik represented Estonia at La Biennale di Venezia with another of his site-specific installations, a “view corridor” made of bottomless/topless coffins. With
76:). His father died in 1971, when he was 9 years old, leaving him and his older brother to the care of their mother who was a doctor. Toomik remembers that some time in his late puberty, he became a highly sensitive young man, only taking an interest in philosophy and the beautiful arts. After graduating from secondary school in Haapsalu town in 1980, he joined the
336:(2010, 20 min, 35 mm), a psychological story with a dark guilt-ridden atmosphere, which is based on his memories from the 1980s when he was in the Soviet Army. Toomik has also publicly expressed a desire to make a full-length feature, while still maintaining a passionate attitude towards painting and all kinds of interdisciplinary art practises.
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to art historian, Eha
Komissarov, “these works by Toomik provide a good example of the influence of the manipulation of the body that characterises his video art. They include a self-portrait of the artist /…/, accommodate both the origin of the interpretation of aggressively psychoanalytical surrealism and the story of that generation.”
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Medallion – once-in-a-lifetime award and considered quite prestigious, especially among painters – from the
Estonian Artists' Association. As Toomik is considered to be primarily a video artist internationally, his paintings have been received with greater enthusiasm in Estonia than abroad. According
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Toomik has had more than twenty noteworthy solo exhibitions at different venues around the world since 1997, and is considered one of the few contemporary
Estonian artists who can be discussed from two distinct angles – the domestic approach and the international reception. For example, the video,
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from 1998. The camera captures the artist when he's driving his car and appears to be screaming behind the wheel. Like in 1998, the voice of the artist's son is used in the soundtrack of the piece but this time it's a newborn baby, whose loud cries are juxtaposed by the abrupt “tantrums” of his
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generation. Estonia regained its independence in 1991; Jaan Toomik has participated in different international art events since 1993. During the first part of the 1990s, he began to create simple conceptual actions that he usually videotaped. A performance and installation video
129:, actually abandoning painting altogether, albeit for a short period of time. His interest in installations marks an important move in his professional career. An art historian, artist and curator Hanno Soans has even suggested that “many of Toomik's fans among foreign
117:(1993), located in the centre of Tallinn for one month, which consisted of 75 iron beds, bought by the artist from the Russian military bases – then still located all around the newly independent Estonia. Through painting, Toomik had gradually found his way to
260:(2003) is executed in a similar vein: the artist is dancing on the grave of his father, whom he never had the chance to dance with in reality because of his father’s early death. Tellingly, Toomik shares his full name with his father who was also Jaan Toomik.
256:(2002). It’s a documentation of a performance dedicated to his deceased brother. In the video, the artist falls freely from a height of 9 meters as if diving or jumping into water, but instead of water it is the earth that “swallows” the artist.
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In the
Estonian art world Toomik received recognition as a painter from the late 1980s and from the early 1990s as an installation and video artist. The critics often refer to him internationally as the most well-known contemporary artist from
209:, Stockholm; Ludwig Museum, Budapest) and all authorized copies are sold. More than a decade later it was still circulated in prestigious international contemporary art events (e. g. 4th berlin biennial of contemporary art,
154:(1994) prepared the background for Toomik's eventual breakthrough on the international art scene. First presented in 1994 in Brazil at the São Paulo Biennale, it depicted a peculiar cube mirror floating on three rivers in
201:, continuously circling the viewer. Accompanied by a religious choral sung by his ten-year-old son, he finally disappears into the white radiance from which he came. The video belongs to numerous collections (
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in those days: “the perception of identity was different during the Soviet era. /…/ We all lived in some other world. Even geographically we transferred ourselves somewhere else. /…/ However, during the
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Alar Sudak plays the protagonist of the film where almost no dialogue is used and atmosphere of Toomik's earlier video installations is clearly present. This short film proved to be successful:
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Shortly after his army experience, Toomik enrolled in the art academy in
Tallinn, where between 1985 and 1991 he studied in the faculty of painting. Some large-scale paintings with openly
241:(2007) also vividly demonstrate the documentary side of Toomik’s art, which contrasts with his usual artistic signature – universally laconic, short video images and sounds such as
233:(2004), made in collaboration with Jaan Paavle and Risto Laius, is really a short documentary film about ex-convicts who have free-willingly gone through genital mutilation.
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at New Museum, NYC, 2011) and the artist frequently receives requests from different collectors and institutions about the possibility of acquiring a copy.
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was completed and first presented at City
Gallery in Tallinn. In this short video (2 minutes, 35 seconds) the artist is skating naked across the icy cold
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229:(2001) is a dialogue between two artists, a discreet, yet honest interview with a painter (Peeter Mudist) suffering from Parkinson’s disease.
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for two years, as every male citizen of the
Estonian SSR back then had to. From 1981 to 1983 he served his military service near
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in
Tallinn in 2007. Alongside his newest paintings and video works, it featured his first attempt as a filmmaker: a short film
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Manifesta 1. Catalogue of the first edition of a new
European Biennial of contemporary art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1996
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have not properly digested his early development story, the way the Neo-Expressionist painter converted himself to a modern
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as a professor in the Chair of
Interdisciplinary Arts and as a Head of Department of Painting. In 2005, he received the
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http://digikogu.ekm.ee/eng/fpage/search/oid-451/?sfrom=author&searchtype=simple&searchtext=toomik&offset=11
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Fresh Cream. Contemporary Art in Culture. 10 curators, 10 writers, 100 artists. Phaidon Press Limited, N.Y, US, 2000
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Lapin. Toomik. 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, Tallinn, 1994
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The motive of cycle within the family bloodline often reoccurs in Toomik’s art. By entitling his short film piece
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However, in most cases Toomik’s video pieces have a deeply personal background and explanation, as in the case of
113:(1988) you started to identify with this land and nation.” A good example could be Toomik's temporal installation
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in 2007 (not perhaps without a certain sense of self-irony), the artist makes a reference to his “hit” video
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Site Santa Fe. Truce: Echoes of Art in an Age of Endless Conclusions, The New York Times Company, 1997
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video artist, painter and award-winning filmmaker, often described as the most widely acknowledged
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After the Wall. Art and Culture in post-Communist Europe. Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 1999
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Another change occurred in Toomik's artistic strategy when his solo exhibitions took place at
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New Media in Late 20th Century Art (Video Installation Art). Thames and Hudson, London 1999
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in Russia, guarding a huge bomb warehouse and loading ammunition onto the trains bound for
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Jaan Toomik continues to live in Tallinn, Estonia, and in the 2000s he has worked at the
458:. Edited by Johannes Saar. Tallinn: Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, 1998, p. 221.
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mainly due to his short video works that have received wide international acclaim (e.g.
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http://www.estonica.org/eng/lugu.html?menyy_id=874&kateg=41&alam=57&leht=9
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The start of his international career was somewhat “symptomatic” to an artist from
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ARS 95. Private / Public. Nykytaiteen Museo, Valtion Taidemuseo, Helsinki, 1995
54:, 1998). He has participated at the São Paulo Biennale (1994), ARS ‘95 (1995),
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186:(1997), he projected a bright sunny video image taken from the highway in the
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Container ‘96. Art Across Oceans. Europaesk Kulturby, Kobenhavn, 1996
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La Biennale di Venezia. XLVII Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte, 1997
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104:, 1990). The artist described himself as being heavily influenced by
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La Biennale di Venezia. 50. Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte, 2003
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62:(1997; 2003), 4th berlin biennial of contemporary art (2006), etc.
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Files. MUSAC. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, 2004
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Jaan Toomik. Tallinn: Art Museum of Estonia, Kumu Art Museum, 2007
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Currently he is represented by Temnikova & Kasela Gallery.
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Hanno Soans, The Return to Toomik. – kunst.ee, 3/2002, p. 12.
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Toomik was born on October 2, 1961 in Tartu, Estonia (then:
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Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class
450:Eha Komissarov, Jaan Toomik. – Estonian Artists 1.
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500:Digital web archive of Art Museum of Estonia:
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414:Homepage of Temnikova & Kasela Gallery:
314:International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
304:camera. His long-time friend and (sort of)
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193:In 1998 Toomik’s most celebrated video
490:http://www.artun.ee/index.php?lang=eng
488:Homepage of Estonian Academy of Arts:
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514:"Looking back - 2008 Award Winners"
578:21st-century Estonian male artists
568:20th-century Estonian male artists
74:Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
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316:and in 2011 it was screened at
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583:21st-century Estonian artists
37:on the international scene.
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170:(1995), first presented at
16:Estonian artist (born 1961)
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469:http://www.cca.ee/?lang=en
467:Homepage of CCA, Estonia:
416:http://www.temnikova.ee/
277:Estonian Academy of Arts
22:(born 2 October 1961 in
588:Post-conceptual artists
548:Estonian film directors
288:From art to (art) film
203:Art Museum of Estonia
553:Contemporary artists
518:www.kurzfilmtage.de
326:Zbigniew Rybczyński
320:alongside works by
272:middle-aged father.
35:contemporary artist
558:Artists from Tartu
402:2008-09-22 at the
188:San Antonio, Texas
111:Singing Revolution
439:978-9985-9756-5-7
322:Alexander Sokurov
137:installation and
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106:Jorge Luis Borges
94:Neo-Expressionist
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538:1961 births
281:Konrad Mägi
237:(2003) and
86:Afghanistan
78:Soviet army
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532:Categories
383:References
245:(2001) or
199:Baltic Sea
58:1 (1996),
310:Communion
306:alter ego
298:Communion
247:Waterfall
164:São Paulo
82:Volgograd
56:Manifesta
400:Archived
254:Untitled
215:Ostalgia
213:, 2006;
180:Helsinki
172:ARS ’95
131:curators
100:, 1989;
32:Estonian
28:Estonian
26:) is an
249:(2005).
239:Jaanika
48:Estonia
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211:Berlin
176:Kiasma
160:Prague
115:Bed 75
102:Dancer
41:Status
302:35 mm
235:Liina
184:Truck
156:Tartu
24:Tartu
452:ISBN
435:ISBN
334:Oleg
328:and
243:Jaan
162:and
125:and
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