The solo show Stick It In Your Wall by Estonian visual artist Mihkel Ilus opened at Hobusepea Gallery in Tallinn on July 5 2017. The exhibition concludes his experiments of the last four years and opens a new chapter – painting which liberates itself from the dictates of the brush, paint and canvas. The exhibition is open until July 31 2017.
Text by Hanno Soans, art critic and curator
At the hands of a new generation of painters, painting has found a new direction towards authenticity and the field of playfulness by breaking itself away from the canvas in spatial games, shamelessly asking questions about the existence of painting. Undoubtedly, one of the most notable artists in Estonia working with these ideas is Mihkel Ilus as has already been seen since his solo show Robusto four years ago. This exhibition forms both a conclusion to his experiments of the last four years and an interlude to a new chapter, painting that has almost completely liberated itself from the dictates of the brush, paint and canvas. The exhibition is topographically divided between the conscious structural experiments on the ground floor and works that are still playing with the personal and intimate nature of easel painting, alluding to the subconscious, on the basement level.
As a commentary on all these liberal games, the artist plays in the exhibition by taking various derivatives of painting into the space – a text-based work in oils is stamped onto the wall ironically stating “Pista see endale seina” (Stick it in your wall). Nevertheless, it is not irony that dominates the show, but the drive for authenticity, resonating with the former ambition of abstract art, a playful attempt to prod the flesh and bones of painting. In any case, it is a way out of the zombie formalism haunting painting today.
Mihkel Ilus (b 1987) is a visual artist working in the expanded field of painting. He often works with large scale installations with a focus on the painterly approach. A significant part of his practice involves blending contemporary exhibiting culture and the performing arts. Ilus studied painting at the University of Tartu and Estonian Academy of Arts. He has been part of numerous group shows and co-curated exhibitions of young artists at Tallinn Art Hall and elsewhere, as well as co-producing and taking part in many performing arts projects. So far Ilus has had two solo exhibitions. He has been awarded several prizes in Estonia. Mihkel Ilus is based in Tallinn.
The exhibition is supported by Estonian Cultural Endowment
Thanks to The Estonian Artists’ Association, Kanuti Gildi SAAL, Meinar Mäesalu, Asso Riisalu, Sander Veermäe, Igor Hobotov, Allan Appelberg, Johannes Säre, Maija Rudovska, Hannes Aasamets, Hanno Soans, Karin Kahre, Elna Ilus, Maarja Tõnisson
