Maarja Nurk. Sada tiiru ümber tiigi, sada tiiru ümber põõsa

Maarja Nurk: “The fabric absorbs colour just as it does a coffee stain. The water in the fountain circulates, endlessly repeating itself and its form. The pond is stagnant. And I look at the trees and bushes.

My gaze gets caught in an unfathomable density, reducing it to conceptual, somber, and graphic surfaces. A little self-mockingly, and at times giving myself agency. Briefly engaging with the imagery – animated, grotesque, personifying – or ambitiously tackling a detailed landscape motif.

One layer, amidst this opulence of detail, consists of dense hatched or patterned surfaces. While the repeating of patterns might be a search for a constant or a means of organising one’s thoughts, getting entangled and immobilised in them evokes the notion that “I am this stagnant pond.” A stagnant and overgrown pond with a fountain spouting at its far end.

Amidst the repetition and intense density, a desire to understand emerges: through which gaze, from which perspective, and with what preconceived notions do I perceive the landscape? Perhaps, to truly engage, one must don a black blindfold, hold a black Claude glass, and circle the pond one hundred times, circling the bush another hundred.”

Maarja Nurk (b. 1987) currently resides and works in Berlin. She has studied painting at the University of Tartu, at the University of Greifswald, and in the master’s programme at the Estonian Academy of Art. In addition to her solo exhibitions in Estonia, Nurk has participated in numerous group exhibitions across Estonia, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland, Russia, Norway, the United States, and Germany. Her practice primarily revolves around conceptual and process-driven drawing and painting, with a focus on long-term processes, repetition, and intricate graphic structures. By emphasising process, her work often extends into performative formats, as well as photo and video art.

The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
The artist thanks: Line Wasner, Theo Hermann.

Exhibitions in Hobusepea gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, and Liviko AS.