Painting

Interdisciplinary painting

Painting is one of the oldest and most traditional art mediums throughout human history. The aim of the painting department at the Estonian Academy of Arts is to support young artists in the development of their practice and to provide them with as broad a context as possible to understand painting in the third decade of the 21st century. We focus on the creation of the original artwork, which takes into consideration the history of painting and its techniques, contemporary society and art, and seeks cohesion and contact with other forms of media.

While painting is one technical approach among others in the toolbox of a contemporary artist, our main focus is on painting as a way of thinking. The study of painting includes acquiring the general knowledge and skills inherent to art as well as the discovery of the technical and conceptual opportunities provided by painting.

A painting on canvas is a very traditional medium with a long history and although the painting department at EKA values historic traditions, it also focuses on the experimental and the playful. The canvas may not always be the canvas in the traditional sense; it may be grandmother’s old slipper or a potato from Balti Jaam market. A space may be a canvas, just like an installation, video, sound piece or even a participatory performance can be a painting. The context that surrounds it is as important as the canvas itself – a painting is composed of its own materiality (its art and structure), but also of the mechanisms that remain outside the canvas. Studies at the painting department at EKA combine critical thinking with traditional skills – our strength is our ability to connect these two.

Opening of the exhibition “Pool with the moderate temperature” in ARS project room, 2023.

A view to Brenda Purtsak’s and Eero Alevi’s exhibition “Pretence” at EKA Gallery, 2020. Photo: Stanislav Stepashko

News and events

Pildil on Helena Bonde Eesti saatkonnast Dublinis Kertu-Liisa Sarapi töö ees

Kertu-Liisa Sarap at the exhibition “Belong” in Dublin

The European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland is very proud to present Belong, an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the 2004 EU enlargement. Belong will be shown in the new Europa Gallery in Dublin, and has been created by students, past and present, of the National College of Art & Design School of Fine Art and School of Visual Culture, from countries that joined the EU ...
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Fine Arts Assessment Marathon 2.–19.12.2024

December brings an opportunity to experience, in an exhibition format, works produced by students in the Faculty of Fine Arts as their term projects: every day there will be a fresh crop of university students’ works on display in the gallery. Works in animation, contemporary art, installation and sculpture, painting, photography, graphic art, scenography curricula will be on display. On each ...
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Kirke Kits at Täisnurga Gallery

We are pleased to invite you to the opening of Kirke Kits's exhibition "Late in October" on Tuesday 29.10 at 18:00 at Täisnurga Gallery. The exhibition "Late October" plays with the liberation of poetry from the regular print format. As a photograph, diary or painting, poems escape the anonymity of a book page for a while. The possibility of experiencing them is hidden in a specific time and ...
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Marleen Suvi “We’ve Never Lived in a House” at EKA Gallery 6.07.–4.08.2024

Marleen Suvi WE'VE NEVER LIVED IN A HOUSE 6.07.–4.08.2024 Opening: 5.07. at 6 pm Marleen Suvi's personal exhibition "We’ve Never Lived in a House" brings together 16 large-scale canvases to form a major installation, which concerns itself with the topics of memory and family. The paintings are based on the artist's family photo albums, and according to the curator Aleksander Metsamärt, the ...
Jaan Toomiku isiknäitus A Theatre of Gestures

Professor Jaan Toomik’s solo exhibition A Theatre of Gestures at Mukusala Art Salon, Riga, Latvia

Maaliosakonna professori Jaan Toomiku isiknäitus A Theatre of Gestures, kuraator Andris Brinkmanis The Mukusala Art Salon Riia, Läti 15.02.18-12.04.18 Jaan Toomik, one of the most renowned Estonian artists in the world, makes his return to Riga after a 10-year-long absence. His second major solo exhibition “Theatre of Gestures”, curated by Andris Brinkmanis, opens its doors to the public on ...
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Assistant of the EKA painting department Mihkel Ilus performing at the Kiasma Theathre, Finland

A performative installation dominated by the frontal collision of black and white magic. The performance is inspired by Kiasma Theatre’s space and celebrates Kiasma’s 20th anniversary. Fri April 6 at 7pm Sat  April 7 at 4pm – meet the artists after the performance Caprices III is a performative installation dominated by the frontal collision of black and white magic. Light freezes into ...
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The first year master students of painting department in Estonian Academy of Arts invite you to their end of semester exhibition

It takes place on the 29th of November in the second tunnel of the historical ammunition storage in Astangu and lasts for only one night! The exhibited works are site-specific and deal with the problematics related to the location. What kind of meaning does a former ammunition storage with its non-functional existence possess regarding the city? What symbols does it hold, what ...

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Location

Lembitu 12, Tallinn, Estonia