How long this lasted I can’t imagine, it wasn’t an imaginary time, it also didn’t belong to the time of things that happen.
Maurice Blanchot
The format of Tarvo Varres solo exhibition The Shadow of Time is site-specific text-based installation that embodies selected sentences by Maurice Blanchot as sculptural and conceptual objects. Whereas defining self and time, the author has included the concepts of ambiguity and multidimensionality and besides these ideas Varres has also explored the themes of multiplicity, vagueness, contradiction and experience of liminality.
In Varres’ artwork, text (and language) functions as an especially sensitive boundary between the real and the imaginary and therefore the act of experiencing his work (or reading the texts) can be viewed as a certain experience of liminality or a borderline case. All texts exposed at the current exhibition have been selected by the artist and removed from their original contexts that is three various books by Maurice Blanchot.
The issues that Varres has posed with his artwork are not simply mental exercises or games, even if these may first appear so. However, upon closer observation these pieces aim at something else – to become questionable, to challenge the concept of time, to disappear into thoughts …
Tarvo Varres (b. 1970) studies the concepts of selflessness and nonlinear time in his artwork. Varres has created photography series, videos and installations while also using sound, light and text. As a dedicated reader, the artist explores both contemporary and classic literature and philosophy that sometimes becomes a part of his artwork. Varres’ first took place in a group exhibition Guide to Intronomadism (Tallinn Art Hall) in 1991. He has worked as a guest lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts and Tartu Art College (1996–2016). Varres was awarded the Young Photographer Prize by the Estonian Filmmakers’ Association in 1992; he received the Annual Award by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia as a member of artists group Rühm T in 1996; and he was the nominee for Köler Prize in 2018. Varres’ artworks are part of the collection of contemporary art at the Art Museum of Estonia.
The artist’s gratitude goes to: Maria Esko, Marten Esko, Anti Saar, Anna Shkodenko, Kirill Tulin
Press release: Marten Esko
Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.
