Pedogree, 2023
Oil on canvas
This painting was exhibited in Katrin Valgemäe’s solo exhibition, “Queens of Chaos,” at Gallery Myymälä2 in Helsinki. This solo exhibition, marking her debut outside Estonia, showcases a series of kitschy paintings influenced by the visual allure of Finnish TV advertising from her childhood and serves as a satirical commentary on Estonian consumerism during the final decade of Soviet occupation. Valgemäe’s sophisticated portraits of women, juxtaposed with the promotion of everyday brands, provoke thought on the intersection of aesthetics and commercialism, bridging timelines from socialist dreams to the exuberant 1990s and the present. Curated by Ramiro Camelo, the exhibition invites a closer look at Valgemäe’s deliberately flamboyant style, revealing a technically savvy and whimsically offbeat visual world.