The exhibition presents the work of Will Thurman, an American-born artist who lives and works in Estonia. The project’s aim is to foster dialogue between the Estonian and Vietnamese art scenes, develop international collaboration, and offer Estonian audiences an opportunity to experience internationally relevant contemporary art. The exhibition will take place at ArtDepoo Gallery in Tallinn from September 14 to October 19, 2025, and will be accompanied by a public program.
This project marks the first collaboration between Estonia and one of Vietnam’s leading centers of contemporary art. Galerie Quynh has been internationally recognized for over twenty-one years and regularly collaborates with renowned curators, biennales, and museums. Together with Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, the project seeks to enhance the international visibility of the Estonian art field and broaden cultural dialogue in Estonia. I
Will Thurman’s new body of work continues his ongoing series Life Paintings (2015–present), offering a diverse and dynamic overview of his latest output. His paintings depict life in all its absurdity, exuberance, mischief, and hysteria. They move restlessly between discomfort and joy, frustration and revelation, the dark and the light. With their directness, the works have a strong impact: Thurman employs a clear, intuitive visual language that does not require academic preparation from the viewer.
Recurring images from everyday life populate his canvases: cows, rats, pigs, and bird-like creatures engage in leisure activities such as swimming, fishing, boxing, or running. References to birth and death appear alongside religious motifs that help us face these ultimate acts. His works are infused with a dark humor—sometimes coolly detached, sometimes rebellious—tempered by a bright and sunny color palette.
A flood of overlapping narratives propels us into a parallel universe not so different from our own, where the comic blends with the bleak and sadistic. Many of the new canvases feature paintings within paintings—mise en abyme structures that highlight the multitude of perspectives through which a single story can be told, retold, and told again. Thurman’s practice is meticulous and disciplined; for him, painting is routine labor. Yet despite this sense of control, the works grant the viewer a unique freedom: to insert themselves into the scenes, to navigate the inverted landscapes, and to intervene in unfolding events.
With its internationally resonant themes, Thurman’s new work fits seamlessly into the context of the Estonian art scene, offering local audiences the chance to experience art that has not previously been exhibited in Estonia.
Will Thurman (b. 1989, New York, NY) moved to Vietnam in his late teens, where he worked as a reporter for a local crime tabloid, occasionally taking assignments in Cambodia, where he also boxed semi-professionally. He now lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia.
