Heikki Leis’s personal exhibition “Review”

Leis’s overview exhibition focuses on new works but offers also a look back at his earlier oeuvre. The drawing series “Daily Reflections”, that was last shown in Tartu a decade ago, consists of hyperrealist portraits of Estonian cultural figures doing their everyday rituals in front of the mirror. The works of Leis’s new series “AVIVA” partially escape their frames and form small installations. It is a game between the realistic drawings and the real world that surrounds them.

The artist adds: “‘AVIVA’ is a circle of life in all its various manifestations. Aviva is a palindrome, a word that reads in both directions. A viva or ‘from the dead’ in Latin: towards life, in opposite direction. The seemingly silent images strive for life, into the light. The moment freezes and time becomes a superfluous construct that no longer restrains us.”

Heikki Leis (b 1973) has graduated from the Tartu Art School and works from 2000 as a freelance artist. He is mainly known for his hyperrealist drawings that have been extensively published in media in Estonia and abroad. Leis has compiled two books containing his photos: “Afterlife” (2017) and “Estonian Master” (2018). His previous exhibition in the Tartu Art House took place in 2013.