Ilmar Kruusamäe
Old Man (Portrait of Andrus Kasemaa)
| Artist: | Ilmar Kruusamäe (1957 - ) |
| Title: | Old Man (Portrait of Andrus Kasemaa) |
| Date: | 2000 |
| Technique: Material: |
oil canvas |
| Height (cm): | 260.5 |
| Width (cm): | 187.5 |
| Description: | Ilmar Kruusamäe is the only one of the former slide painters in Tartu who has remained faithful to the technical methods of Hyper-realism, and in the course of time he has become even more ambitious. Now his favourite genre is portraits of his friends, among which the portrait of Andrus Kasemaa is one of the most significant. Andrus Kasemaa has played quite an important role in Ilmar Kruusamäe’s artistic formation. In the 1970s he became the Head of the Tartu University Art Cabinet, which became the seminary for the slide painters in Tartu. Kasemaa’s liberal attitude towards different artistic endeavours made the birth of slide painting possible. At the time it did not receive the approval of art experts, who accused the painters of that style of dilettantism and of attaching little value to photography. Kruusamäe’s portraits of the past decade make quite a direct reference to Chuck Close’s enormous facial landscapes. Nevertheless, Kruusamäe does not share the passionless attitude of the best-known American Hyper-realist; rather, he uses the principle of classical portrait art to point out the personality of the person portrayed. For that reason he often uses a Symbolist background with a touch of Surrealism, as well as literary titles. He has also maintained his love for details, theatricality and the grotesque. Due to that, we can still talk about Kruusamäe as a Hyper-realist, only with reservations. Kruusamäe’s works have changed a little over time: the dimensions of his paintings have increased, the technical realization has become slightly more secure, and he is more interested in photographic effects (playing with light and focus). Together with the artist, the models have also ‘aged’. A more liberal time has given additional dimensions to Kruusamäe’s works. Surely, one of them is nostalgia. Kädi Talvoja |
| Related categories: | Contemporary Art |
| Copyright notice: | Art Museum of Estonia |
| AME collection: | Paintings collection |
| Collection number: | M 7135 |
| Accretion number: | EKM j 49613 |
| File info: |
Source type: digital photography File type: TIF File size: 35.91MB Resolution: 3018*4157px @ 300dpi |
