26.01–30.03.2024
Memories from Altai Krai
Curator: Anneliis LeppMemories from Altai Krai is the story of the artist’s ancestors who migrated to Siberia at the end of the 19th century due to land shortage. The dream of a better life led them on a long and exhausting journey to Barnaul County, Altai Krai in Central Asia. After several stops they finally settled in the middle of the open steppe sided by mountains, founding a village named Eesti (Estonia) there together with other families.
Consisting of drawings, paintings and ceramic objects, the exhibition is based on the diary of Liisa Kruusmägi’s grandmother, which contains fragments of memories from the time spent in Estonia village. She has described the time spent there as “life that was full of hard work, but also fun“. It was a time of both joy and human loss.
Sound design: Taavi Tulev
Photos: Paul Kuimet
Press:
25.02.2024
Liisa Kruusmägi: ka halva tujuga tuleb kunst päris hästi välja, T. Karjatse, kultuur.err.ee
23.02.2024
Vanaema mäletab, lapselaps joonistab ning vanavanaema elab igavesti, A. Metsamärt, Sirp
31.01.2024
Kuku pärastlõuna: Saalis. Anneliis Lepp - näitus Mälestused Altai Kraist. Kuku.pleier.ee
30.01.2024
Delta 30. jaanuaril: Eesti kirjanduse päev, Docpoint, Liisa Kruusmägi. Klassikaraadio.err.ee
29.01.2024
Esivanemate Siberi-aastad kunsti pannud Kruusmägi: on traagikat, aga ka toredaid hetki. Kultuur.err.ee
26.01.2024
Pildid: Tallinna linnagaleriis avati Liisa Kruusmägi isikunäitus. err.ee
02.12-22-12.2022
Cephalopods with Binoculars
books could really have pictures too
exhibitions could really have texts too
*
nobody’s home today
and whoever is
doesn’t want to be there
if patterns didn’t repeat
then they’d need to be called something else
adults like vivid colors
kids like realistic topics
humans are happier than animals
because animals exist on the wrong scale
the sweetest moments happen right
before falling asleep
because those are the rarest
it’s so nice to be alone
especially when somebody’s watching
the world’s filled with endless discoveries
especially things I’ve gotten
to know a little already
joy and sadness are synonyms
because both are colorful
if you give it a little thought, then
where’s there for us to go anyway
we all fit together here
quite nicely
so what that we’ve no wish to do so
there’s somebody behind every curtain
and I suppose that’s the point of curtains
to dance like
nobody’s watching, should someone be
watching first?
eye sockets are the dens of sin
of the human soul
if it hasn’t become clear by now
then it never will
somebody’s definitely thinking I wonder
if you understood
somebody’s definitely thinking
somebody’s definitely watching
Joonas Veelmaa wrote the key to interpreting this exhibition.
Sound design: Taavi Tulev
Graphic design: Helmi Arrak
Translation: Adam Cullen
Press:
Лийза Круусмяги размывает границы между живописью и иллюстрацией, вдохновляясь путешествиями | Wonderuum
Photo reportage from Liisa Kruusmägi's solo exhibition 'Cephalopods with Binoculars' at Vaal gallery | Echo Gone Wrong
Iganädalane kultuurikompass | OP 6. hooaeg, 145. osa 08.12 | etv.err.ee
FOTOD | Maal „Vaalake“ koos kommidega maksis galeriis Vaal 7000 eurot, kuid kahjuks panid külastajad maiused nahka. Palju maksab maal nüüd? | Õhtuleht
Galerii. Liisa Kruusmägi avas Vaal galeriis isiknäituse | kultuur.err.ee
Liisa Kruusmägi: värvilise maali vaatamine viib mõtted keerulisematelt asjadelt eemale | kultuur.err.ee
Stella Soomlais Studio
28.04-13.05.2022
Balearic Liisa
Stella Soomlais Studio will have one more exhibition before moving. Artist Liisa Kruusmägi has decided to exhibit particularly large-format works in a small studio, creating a kind of contrast — the paintings seem to take over the space. Characters busy with their daily activities look out from the large canvases. Each world is like a colorful glimpse into someone's world: scattered objects, eye-catching patterns, holiday moods or a pile of heads. Come and enter worlds that were otherwise locked away and let the colors and textures enchant you. Be a part of the mystery of the world and the endless summer that only takes the blink of an eye to see.
20.02-10.03.2021
Dreamers
The exhibition is based on the author's latest work. While in the past Liisa has mainly painted people in different moments and environments, the theme of the new exhibition is deeply related to nature - in a very positive sense. Recently, more and more time has been spent in nature, hiking there and observing its life processes. Central to the pictures in the exhibition is a dreamer who, while in nature, enjoys it, it is like a world of good dreams. The one lying on the living room carpet has been replaced by an observer of the flying stars on the beach sand, and the anxious coucher has gone to the forest, bowed to the shore of a small lake, instead of the phone-selfie, looking at her reflection on the surface of the water, stepped a little further, and then found some beautiful boletus that had made the day.
The exhibition is curated and sounded by Taavi Tulev.
16.01-04.02.2019
Soda Pop on Asphalt
The bohemian aesthetics of disorder and the cozy irregularity are expressed in Kruusmägi's work. Among the motifs the artist has used there are plants, books, musical instruments, mirrors, wine glasses, other miscellaneous objects, cats, dogs and snakes. Chaotic heaps of clothes in her homes where the the artist has been living during the different phases of her life. An observant viewer can also detect autobiographical references on the depicted walls in Kruusmägi's work. On closer inspection it turns out that the artist has painted her earlier work in her paintings. The motif of constructing a home is important for Kruusmägi namely for the intimacy of atmosphere where the dense text of objects and people are formed.
Exhibited paintings can be divided into two categories of existence. First, there is the lazy girl syndrome expressed through the self-observation and contemplations of melancholy, dreaming young women. These characters are introvert model consumers and neoliberal paragon-hipsters of the „bloom boy and young girl“ era. Secondly, there are two-dimensional surfaces of details and miniature objects that lack spatiality. This raises the question whether the result reminds more of textile design or materialized elements of disordered thoughts. In other words, this looks like a blend of the popular theme of lifestyle bloggers „What's in my bag?“ and the semiotic concept of umwelt by biologist Jakob von Uexküll.
Kruusmägi's working method can be described by fast drawing, depiction of impulsive emotions and mood as well as painting large motifs while emphasizing the influence of colour in her work. Liisa Kruusmägi is definitely an artist with an established individual style, characterized by the rapidly propagating line that extends to various images: sneakers, wall and computer screens, thus referring to the various modalities of art consumption. The cognitive naivety of the artist is expressed rather in the emotional act of participation than conceptually.
Liisa Kruusmägi's work comprises thematic contradictions – her visual language is cartoon-like and two-dimensional, yet idealistic and enchanting. On one hand we can see something idyllic and cozy, on the other hand her work conveys escapism and melancholy. Such chaotic inner landscapes characterize not only Kruusmägi but the whole generation where she belongs.
Text by Madli Ehasalu
Murals
Mjäu, Paide pritsumaja, Põllu 23, Paide 2021
Tops, Soo 15, 10411 Tallinn
Tallinas ielas kvartāls, Riga, Latvia 2018
Kuu 31, Tartu, Estonia 2018 (Stencibility)
Kaņepes kultūras centrs, Riga, Latvia 2017