2014,\u00a0The Museum of New Art in P\u00e4rnu, Estonia<\/p>\n
“Image and Word” is a collection of Jaan Elkens work from the period 2012-2014.<\/em>\u00a0Starting point for the exhibition is the variation in sensory experiences that text and image\/signs create in the viewer.\u00a0 What then happens when the connotations of particular texts\u00a0occupy\u00a0foreign\/other cultural material? The exhibition challenges the resistence and cultural independence of rap lyrics, mixing classical Chinese ink painting, expressive abstractionism,\u00a0the melting pot of urban graffiti art, all in a monochrome key. In this, the painting becomes a horizontal space for\u00a0deconstructing\u00a0dichotomies\u00a0and creating new constellations.<\/p>\n Elken exhibits also one of his symbolic works, “Seagull”,\u00a0from 1982. At the time a politically bold painting, it\u00a0is a\u00a0metaphore\u00a0of Estonian isolation from the ‘free’ world. The shadow of the seagull casted over the Tallinn-Helsinki ferry Georg Ots hints of the glass wall creating boundaries and barriers, signifying both a political separation but also a collision of the biological and technical world. In the exhibition, Elken has created seven modulations of the painting. These redefine\u00a0the abstraction by showing Elkens interaction with reality through various social and visual parameters.<\/p>\n