Jaan Malin writes about the exhibition DIALOGUE
Mari Roosvalt and Jaan Elken
ARTISTS’ MUSICA SACRA
Formally, Jaan Elken and Mari Roosvalt are of course expressionists, but the longer you look at their exhibition “Dialogue” (Museum of New Art, Pärnu, 12 September – 31 October 2026), the more thoughtful, anxious and at times ironic they seem. It is very strange that Mari Roosvalt had not previously registered in my mind as a phenomenon deserving any particular attention. Now I saw what a great and fundamental mistake that had been. I promise, above all to myself, to study her work as thoroughly as I can.
I know of no more congenial pair in Estonian art today. More congenial in the sense that several works in this exhibition could be attributed to either of them. At first glance, that is; the details lead you to the answer. Technically they are quite similar, but on the city–nature axis, for instance, they feel at home at quite different points: Elken enjoys the city, Roosvalt would rather be in a bog. Both also accept the opposite pole, but it is the ones named that make them feel at ease.
Until October 2024 I considered them both rather alike and therefore uninteresting. Jaan Elken’s exhibition “Maastik / Landscape” at ARS opened my eyes; I was enthralled by it. The airiness of the high hall there and the emphasised restraint of the white walls amplified even the slightest play of colour. I had not noticed his subtlety of nuance before. But now … yes, I was enthralled. I felt something similar this time at the Museum of New Art.
When you step into the large hall, on either side of you is Elken’s diptych “I’M THE FUNKY BROTHA, GIRLS LOVE THE JIM” from 2011. These are large, fairly monochrome paintings with text, which have comfortably allowed me to keep my distance from Elken and pass by rather indifferently. These paintings are precisely the right backdrop for what has now changed my attitude and opened my eyes. On each wall, next to Elken’s painting, hangs a work in a similar manner by Mari Roosvalt (“Explosion III” and “This …”), with sperm-like squiggles or other particles in Brownian motion. This wall concludes with clear circles: in one corner Mari’s “Nameless man V” and in the other Elken’s “Venus”. It is a little odd to use comparisons when it comes to art, but Mari’s work seems somewhat more sensitive and hesitant, while Elken’s breaks aesthetic clichés and is extremely extroverted.
Mari’s “Nostalgia IV”, on the right-hand side wall by the front door of the large hall, naturally connects with the paintings of the same format on the opposite wall, the yellow works “Vision VIII” and “Synonym IXV”. All three proceed from a) the existence of a centre and b) coming to completion before the edge of the picture surface. These pictures seem to caress. The gentleness of these works softens many of Elken’s artistic punches.
It is a delight to sit on the windowsill and look at the works in front of you: at the front, on either side, Mari’s “Person I”, “KU…JA…NII” and “Waiting”, and Elken’s “March 25th. Snowy”. In the background, Elken’s “Paint it Black II” (one of the most delightful favourites in this exhibition) and “Best before. Reality”, and Mari’s “Rememberment II” and “Mark IX”.
The trio towards the corner from that gap are all by Elken, and among them is one work (“Water I”) that had already enthralled me at the ARS exhibition. It was this work that opened my eyes to Elken’s colourfulness and subtlety of nuance. Without it, and probably a few other works, it would be harder to delight in the more or less hidden colour nuances of, say, “Midnight metro”, “The seventh kingdom”, “Refresh” and “Georg Ots”.
On the other side of the spiral staircase from Elken’s “Water” are Mari’s paintings “Person I” and “Mark III”. The latter proves that even a Tallinna Vesi cast-iron manhole cover can – as depicted by a master – be aesthetic. The person painting here shows the artist’s aesthetic and friendly smile at the fact that much of the life around us has been made a prisoner of the so-called yellow press. But that does not break us – we are still alive!
Learning from a good artist is easy on the one hand, yet dangerous at the same time. Because you may develop into a sort of small version of them. A certain indescribable quintessence of the teacher is offered by Elken’s paintings “Moon-river II”, “Venus” and “Universe – master plan”. In the same role I would mention Mari’s paintings “Rememberment IV”, “Signs IV” and “Place”.
Yes, the large hall is quite instructive, but it perhaps demands more openness and/or knowledge of context from the viewer. In any case, for me it became even more exciting and absorbing in the back hall. In this hall Elken probably appears at his most tempestuous. I cannot describe paintings such as “Ice-cold”, “You’ve starting to believe” and “High tide” in any other way. But Mari’s “Windy”, “Meeting” and “Three ideals” are not one bit more petit-bourgeois either.
Quite separately, I must highlight the designer’s (probably largely Jaan Elken’s) solution with the niche where a video usually plays. In a sense it is like an altar or something similar. That is why “Jesus Christ Superstar I”, looking out from the end wall of that space, takes on the true significance of an altarpiece, and this position is reinforced by its neighbours by the same artist on both sides: “Jesus Christ Superstar II” (song lyrics scratched into white paint with the end of a brush handle) and “J.C.S. VIII”, as well as “Poem for mattress N 2” and “Poem for mattress N 4”. I do not know how many questions the videos on view answer, but for creating some context – why not.
This exhibition does not simply make you bow, but crawl, positively squealing with gratitude. For a good five years I have not come across such an enthralling, complete exhibition, either in Estonia or elsewhere.
JAAN MALIN
The exhibition DIALOGUE is open at the Museum of New Art until 31 October 2026
