On Friday, 10 April at 5:00 pm, Jane Liiv will open her solo exhibition “Landscapes of the Mind” in the small gallery of the Tartu Art House.
The exhibition features the artist’s acrylic and mixed-media paintings, created primarily between 2019 and 2026.
Liiv paints mind landscapes. They do not actually exist. She paints suggestive fields, open spaces, trees, clouds, water, ice, snow and the like. Sometimes she depicts reflections and glimmers, sunbeams, waves and wind. At least for her, such semi-abstract surfaces are associated with these phenomena. Only a few individual paintings have been inspired by actual elements. Rather, she plays with colours: a sensing and enjoyment of colour surfaces, harmonies and combinations.
Often, these mind landscapes change their appearance and shape; one landscape is gradually replaced by another. After a while, there may be a new image, a new layer, on the same canvas. Mind landscapes grow from the inside of the picture outward; they are there as if by their own efforts, and the artist simply helps them emerge. The mood of these mind landscapes is generally bright, regardless of the artist’s own actual thoughts and feelings. There is so much gloom and despair in the world that she does not want to add to it. Rather, she wishes to create brightness and peace around herself and in her mind.
“When I pick up a brush, I rarely have a very specific plan. At first, the colours are applied to the canvas randomly; one colour contrast or harmony leads to the next, and then everything becomes more defined, and a vision begins to emerge. But there’s no fixed or planned construction,” explains the artist.
Jane Liiv (b. 1973) graduated from the Tartu Art School in 1992 and the University of Tartu’s Department of Painting in 1997 (MA); she has been exhibiting since 1996. She has worked as a lecturer in colour theory at the Pallas University of Applied Sciences, and as a painting instructor at the Tartu Folk High School. Since 1997 Jane Liiv has been an artist at the Estonian National Museum, and since 2011 its chief artist. She has curated and designed exhibitions, publications and advertisements for the Estonian National Museum, and has also created book illustrations. Since 2000, Jane Liiv has been a member of the Tartu Artists’ Union and has also served on the Union’s board. Her works are held in private collections in Estonia and abroad.
The exhibition will be open until 10 May.
Additional information: Maret Tamme, Producer of the Tartu Art House, produtsent@kunstimaja.ee
5800 3882