Olev Subbi: Landscapes from the End of Times

Olev Subbi, Larry Achiampong, María Dalberg, Nona Inescu, Ad Minoliti, Juana Subercaseaux, Nazim Ünal Yilmaz, Maya Watanabe

Ninety years after Olev Subbi’s birth, the Tallinn Art Hall re-examines his practice in the context of some of the most tumultuous moments of Estonian Art History. Olev Subbi: Landscapes from the End of Times offers a new perspective on his practice alongside the work of contemporary international artists that expand upon his interests in the connection between ecology and the social through meditations on our relationship with nature. Subbi’s view of history is non-linear – his paintings are windows onto parallel worlds that are neither present, past nor future. The invitation to contemporary artists was made by linking particular themes present in Subbi’s work with ongoing social problems. The exhibition positions itself by encouraging continuous revisionism and establishing global non-linear links in a chain. Although Subbi lived in the most difficult of contexts in the bleakness of post-war Estonia, his lesson is to survive by finding beauty in everything. At the core of his artistic philosophy is the constructive idea of building out of optimism. Landscape becomes a place of hope, of memory, remembrance, and a site in which to construct the future.