Jaan Toomik
Born 1961 in Tartu, Estonia.
Artist
Jaan Toomik
Born 1961 in Tartu, Estonia.
Born in 1961 in Tartu, raised in Haapsalu, lives and works in Tallinn. Studied painting and graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1991. Currently professor and head of the painting department at the Estonian Academy of Arts. One of the best-known Estonian contemporary artists.
Toomik has exhibited at ARS ’95 (Helsinki, 1995), Manifesta 1 (Rotterdam, 1996), the Venice Biennale (1997, 2003), Beijing International Art Biennale (2005), Berlin Biennale (2006), „Ostalgia“ (New Museum, New York, 2011) etc.
A painter, performance and video artist, he started making short films in the 2000’s and completed his first full-length feature film in 2014.
He won the Principal Prize at Oberhausen in 2008 for his film „Communion“. His films have been shown at international film festivals in Oberhausen, Rotterdam, Basel, São Paulo, Tallinn etc.
Works in collections:
Kiasma, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Fondazione Nicola Trussardi, Sammlung Hoffmann, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam etc.
Education
1985–1991 Estonian Academy of Arts, faculty of painting.
Solo exhibitions
2024
“Maapäev 1917”
Estonian Knighthood House, Tallinn. Estonia
Decoding the Landscape
KUMU Art Museum, Tallinn. Estonia
2023
“Forest Turn”
Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn. Estonia
2022
People and Other Creatures
Artra Gallery, Milan. Italy
2021
In yellow and green
Haapsalu City Gallery. Haapsalu, Estonia
2020
Selfie as a Seagull
ARS project space. Tallinn, Estonia
Jaan Toomik in Viljandi
Rüki Gallery. Viljandi, Estonia
Selected group exhibitions, actions, performances
2024
Being There
Le Clezio Gallery, Paris, France
Go Short – International Short Film Festival
Nijmegen, Netherlands
“Arts of Survival of Toomik, Ole and Mäetamm”
Kondas Centre, Viljandi. Estonia
2023
Estonian Energies
MUSAO, Vienna. Austria
International Film Festival PÖFF
Tallinn. Estonia
15th Short Waves Festival – Rethink/Rebuild
Poznan, Poland
Countour of Grief
Gallery Köernerpark Berlin, Germany
Suizid Keep on Talking
AusstellungsHalle Fankfurt, Germany
69th of International Short Film Festival
Oberhausen, Germany
Eesti Energiad
Pärnu Kunstnike Maja
2022
Dancing Home
Recklinghausen Kunsthalle Germany
Art design work for Toomas Saarepera play “DIP”
Endla theatre, Pärnu. Estonia
2021
Suizid – Let’s Talk About It
Museum for Sepulchral Culture, Kassel. Germany
Towards a New Community
curated by Avi Lubin, Tel Aviv
Dreams of Freedom. Romanticism in Russia and Germany 6+
Albertinum, Dresden. Germany
Estonian Energies. The Power of Practice
Tartu Art Museum, Tartu. Estonia
MEMENTO – The Force Field of Memories
The Museum for Sepulchral Culture, Kassel. Germany
Dreams of Freedom. Romanticism in Russia and Germany 6+
New Tretjakov gallery, Moscow. Russia
2020
Roots and Ruins 2019 , curated by Rael Artel
Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn. Estonia
17th International Vilnius Painting Triennial
Vilnius, Lithuania
Grants and awards
2020
Kristjan Raud annual art award, Estonia
2013
Residency in Mazzano Romano, U. Tanners foundation
2008
54. International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, prize from organizers
Annual award from Cultural Endowment of Estonia for artistic activity in 2007
2006
NIFCA Artist Residencies, Bergen, Norra
2005
Konrad Mäe medal, Eesti
2003
Baltic Assembly Annual Art Award
2000
NIFCA Artists’ Residencies, Hafnarborg, Island
1999
State Prize of the Republic of Estonia
Chicago Artist International Program, USA
1997
Prize from the 5th annual exhibition of the Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia
Sinebrychoff Estonia Ltd.
Art Pace, San Antonio, Texas, USA
1995
UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, special mention, Paris, France
1994
Kristjan Raud annual art award, Estonia
Selected bibliography
Jaan Toomik. My End Is My Beginning. And My Beginning Is My End. Catalogue. Edited by Viktor Misiano. Moscow Museum of Modern Art, 2019
63. International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Catalogue. 2017.
Estonian Dream. Published by Galleri Sult, Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, 2013
Orton Galleria esittää no.12, Galleria Orton, Helsinki 2013
Jaan Toomik, Run . Published by Archive Books, Berlin 2012
OSTALGIA Published by J. McSweeney and G. Mills Publications Fund at the New Museum in New York 2011
Contemporary Art in Eastern Europe (ARTWORLD series). Black Dog Publishing, London, 2010
Jaan Toomik. Invisible Pearls. Riga Art Space, 2008
Jaan Toomik. Catalogue. Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn, 2007
Jaan Toomik. Videos. Catalogo. Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid 2005
Files. MUSAC. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon, 2004
La Biennale di Venezia. 50. Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, 2003.
Art Moscow. Programme. 5th International Art Fair, April 24 – 29, 2001. Central House of Artist, Moscow 2001
Fresh Cream. Contemporary Art in Culture. 10 curators, 10 writers, 100 artists. Phaidon Press
Limited, N.Y, USA, 2000
L’autre moi tie de l’Europe. Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 2000
New Media in Late 20th Century Art.(Video Installation Art). Thames and Hudson, London 1999
After the Wall. Art and Culture in post-Communist Europe. Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 1999
Jaan Toomik. Baltic. I-20 Gallery, New York, 1998
Site Santa Fe. Truce: Echoes of Art in an Age of Endless Conclusions, The New York Times Company, 1997
La Biennale di Venezia. XLVII Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte, 1997
Survival. Rauma Biennale Balticum 96, Rauman Taidemuseo, Finland, 1996
ARS 95. Private / Public. Nykytaiteen Museo, Valtion Taidemuseo, Helsinki, 1995
Manifesta 1. Catalogue of the first edition of a new European Biennial of contemporary art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 1996
Container ‘96. Art Across Oceans. Europaesk Kulturby, Kobenhavn, 1996
UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts 1995. The World of Art in 1995. UNESCO, Paris, 1996
Avant-garde Walk a Venezia 1995 I, II. Edizioni d’Arte Fratelli Pozzo, 1995, 1996
Lapin. Toomik. 22nd International Biennial of São Paulo, Soros Center for Contemporary Arts, Estonia, Tallinn, 1994