On September 19 at 6 pm, August Künnapu’s exhibition of paintings “Waiting for the Sun” will be opened at the Contemporary Art Gallery of Viimsi Artium. This is Künnapu’s first major exhibition to be held in Viimsi.
The exhibition focuses on the artist’s three series of paintings: Perepildid (Family Portraits) “Poeg Alberto Võsul” (My Son Alberto in Võsu), “Isa Villu Indias” (My Father Villu in India), “August Ruhnu saarel”(August on the Island of Ruhnu), Neli elementi (The Four Elements) “Vees”(In the Water), “Õhus”(In the Air),”Teel”(On the Road) from 2021 and “Vibukütt 1-3” (Archer 1-3) from 2013 to 2019. The three series of paintings are complementary to Künnapu’s paintings of everyday scenes from 2002 to 2023.
On the second floor of the Contemporary Art Gallery, you can watch a short documentary directed by Mait Valk about August Künnapu`s first retrospective exhibition “Le Soleil De Ma Vie” at the Kadriorg Plaza.
August Künnapu
August Künnapu (b. 1978 in Tallinn) studied architecture at the Estonian Institute of Humanities from 1996 to 1997, architecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts from 1997 to 2002 and fine art from 2000 at the Summer School of Art in London. He is one of the most passionate painters of his generation, portraying the souls of people, animals and houses in his colorful creations. In 2007 he was the winner of the Konrad Mäe Painting Prize and in 2018 he was the laureate of the Kristjan Raud Prize. Since 2005, Künnapu has been editing the timeless cultural newspaper “Epifanio”. Since 2001, the artist has had solo exhibitions in Tallinn, Tartu, Helsinki, Tampere, Manila, Riga, and Berlin, and since 1996 he has participated in group exhibitions both in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Germany, Taiwan, Russia and England. His works are in the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, the Tartu Art Museum and the Viinistu Art Museum, as well as in private collections in Europe. He is the author of the painting books “August Künnapu” (2007), “River of Life” (2013) and “∞” (2018). Künnapu loves to do exhibitions on the mysterious small islands of Estonia.
London curator, artist, and writer Harry Pye (London, UK) writes:
“What’s important to me is that being an artist myself, I sometimes need to see art that makes me want to go to my studio and create something myself. In this sense, August’s paintings are inspiring, giving me food for thought and a will to create. Someone once said that art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. August as a person and his paintings are extraordinary and charming. He often paints “ordinary” people who do “ordinary” things, but the result is bizarre or makes you slightly restless. Artist friends have told me that August’s works bring to mind the great masters of the past, such as Malevich, Rousseau and Leger. Maybe it’s too early to tell if August is a great champion or not? His story and journey are far from over, but I would love to think that one day his paintings will be displayed in the best galleries in the world,”
Painting “Vees”(In the Water), 2021
