Aira Rautso

Artist is based in: Estonia

Aira Rautso (b. 1954) is an Estonian painter and art teacher. She graduated from Tallinn University in 1978 and has worked as an art teacher at Jõhvi Art School since 1980. Aira Rautso has been a member of the Estonian Artists’ Union of Painters since 2008. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Estonia and abroad, including in Scandinavia and Germany. Rautso’s predominantly abstract visual language combines recognizable forms derived from nature with colour, texture and compositional rhythm. Her painting series Estonian Landscapes does not depict specific places, but rather focuses on archetypal elements of the Estonian landscape – the sea, fields, trees, the sun and the sky. In her work, nature serves primarily as a starting point for creating mood, space and an emotional state. In the painting series My Cathedrals and Glass Ball Game, the artist combines an abstract pictorial space with realistic and hyperrealistic details, creating a visual tension between different modes of representation. She primarily works with acrylic paints and mixed media. In recent years, her solo exhibitions have included exhibitions at Vabaduse Gallery in Tallinn in 2022 and at the Jõhvi Art School Gallery in 2024. In October 2026, the artist’s solo exhibition Between Two will open at Jõhvi City Gallery. Her work has been recognised with the Ida-Viru County Cultural Award (2004) and the Ida-Viru Cultural Endowment Creative Awards (2006 and 2014). Her works are held in private collections in Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the United States.

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