Peeter Krosmann is an artist from Tartu (Estonia) currently living and working in Lithuania. In 1989, he started studying art at Konrad Mägi’s studio and later obtained a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Tartu. Since 2000, the artist has been teaching painting, illustration, animation and comics at the Tartu Art School. Krosmann is best known as a cultivator of the traditional genres of painting such as portrait and landscape, who works extensively from nature. He is also a master of lithography, graffiti, comics. In the exhibition “Salt and Pepper” the artist’s recent works from the series “City” and “Olive Trees” are shown. The author chooses the topics and subjects that seem very mundane at the first glance, spicing them up and providing new tastes in the process of painting. Salt and pepper in this context can be lighting, another angle, sharpened or subdued colours.
“Cities and olive trees are somewhat similar,” says Krosmann, “they live significantly longer than humans, and are constantly changing and growing new layers on their body.” The signs of the time revealed in the paintings talk about past experiences. The “bodies” of the olive trees – trees that have seen many seasons and bore fruit for many years, that are still growing, and sometimes tired, with bulging joints and branches, still stretched out towards the sun – were studied by the artist on the Greek island of Samos. During the very first lockdown, Krosmann was trapped in Samos for three months where he had a chance to observe the surroundings closely and record his reflections on canvas. Exploring cities is an ongoing daily process through his wanderings around Kaunas, where the artist lives today, and Vilnius, which he often visits.
