PRESS RELEASE
Sven Parker will open his personal exhibition Walls, panels, fragments in Draakon gallery at 6pm on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2021. Exhibition will be open until August 28th, 2021.
This exhibition is inspired by one of the first „westernized “comic book series published in Estonia in the 1990s. Western narratives and characters entered Estonian storytelling soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, marking the beginning of a paradigmatic shift. As the cold war ended, the capitalist ideology reached Eastern Europe and brought about expansive commodification and transition to a new liberal-democratic mode of governance.
American political scientist Francis Fukuyama has described this time period as “the end of history”, the disappearance of great historical narratives based on the tension and ideological opposition between East and West. Yet recent events have created new grand narratives, such as the fight against terrorism, the climate crisis and most recently, the sometimes long bouts of social isolation, to name a few.
Indeed, one can argue that history has not ended, instead becoming fragmented and a commodity on itself, as suggested by the cultural theorist Fredric Jameson. The desire for capitalism has been given a physicality, which addresses its own temporality and the space surrounding it. Following this framework, the works on display are mapping out past collective experiences, with fragments as starting points for historical narratives to emerge.
The panels on display are intended as markers of the period when western and eastern narratives and imagery meet. They draw a parallel between fictional stories and historical events from the past, presenting these realities as still frames in the midst of a transformative change. The comic strips are applied onto the panels as a collage, mimicking layers of wallpaper added and removed, portraying ideological fragments to be built or demolished.
The art practice of Sven Parker can be described through installation, staging and the use of different collage techniques. His current topics of interest include the relations between butaphory and its surroundings as they appear through relational aesthetics. In 2011 he received his bachelor’s degree in painting from the Estonian Academy of Arts and has pursued further studies in the department of sculpture and installation.
The artist’s gratitude goes to: Merilin Paart, Mait Luhasoo, Aivar Paart, Roman-Sten Tõnissoo, Mihai Nica
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.The exhibitions in Draakon Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.
SVEN PARKER
born in 1985 in Tallinn, Estonia
lives and works in Tallinn, Estonia
one of the founding members of artcollective Gallery Mihhail
E-mail: parkersven@gmail.com
Education
2011‒2016 Estonian Academy of Arts, installation, MA (unfinished)
2007‒2011 Estonian Academy of Arts, painting, BA
Solo exhibitions
2021 Walls, Panels, Fragments, Draakon gallery, Tallinn
2016 Lights on for the Territory, V Artishok Biennale, Theater NO99, Tallinn
2014 I KNEW IT WAS ABOUT ASPHALT, BUT HOW TO SAY IT?, Draakon gallery, Tallinn
2014 Field markings, in collaboration with Sten Eltermaa, Raja gallery, Tallinn
2012 Platform, Hobusepea gallery, Tallinn
Group exhibitions
2021 The Simulation of Bodies, the Management of Life, Gallery Mihhail /
1st of March Gallery, Tallinn
2017 Sewage System Observatory in Baroque Purple, Gallery Mihhail, Kosemetsa 11,
Tallinn
2016 TASE’16 FILM, Cinema Sõprus, Tallinn
2015 PREffff, whitecube at Tulika 9/11, Tallinn
2015 Let me tell You about Myself, Gallery Noorus, Tartu
2014 NEW MATERIAL, (publication / exhibition), EKKM, Tallinn
2014 Rituals on Conditions of Clarity, ISFAG, Tallinn
2014 Portrait of Unseen, ISFAG, Tallinn
2014 Suspicious Matter, Haapsalu Citygallery, Haapsalu
2013 Reader in the Age of Abundance, Estonian National Library, Tallinn
2013 Escape Landscape, Tartu Arthall, Tartu
2013 Outsides and the Other, Raja gallery, Tallinn
2013 Ekadence, 1st of May Gallery, Tallinn
2013 Crossings, EKA G, Tallinn
2010 Painting in Process, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn
2009 Paradise is not Lost, Gallery Zurab Tsereteli, Moscow
2008 Kaliningrad-Königsberg, Graphic Art Biennial of the Baltic Sea Countries, Kaliningrad
Collaboration projects
2019 Everyday so Sticky, Gallery Mihhail, Pelguranna 15, Tallinn
2017 Sewage System Observatory in Baroque Purple, Gallery Mihhail, Kosemetsa 11,
Tallinn
2016 Bad Habits, Gallery Mihhail, Tehnika 12, Tallinn
2016 Михаил, Gallery Mihhail, Kadaka tee 157, Tallinn
Awards
2014 Young Sculptor’s Prize, Tallinn
Reviews
Brigita Reinert, Tallinn Photomonth. An Afterimage, Echo Gone Wrong, 14.11.2017
Kaire Nurk, Art-is-ho(c)k, Sirp, 04.10.2016
Meelis Oidsalu, Proud and Comfy Artishok, Sirp, 04.10.2016
Maria-Kristiina Soomre, Artishok Biennale, mayhaps Grayer Shade of Gold, Postimees, 21.10.2016
Siim Sinamäe, Greetings to Misha:* Gallery Mihhail, Nihilist FM, 08.04.2016
Peeter Talvistu, Wet Gunpowder, Sirp, 23.01.2015
Marten Esko, Personal Point of Departure and its Materialization, Sirp, 01.09.2015
Martin Luiga, Brutal, Dirty, Idealistic Matter, ZA/UM, 03.09.2014
Siim Preiman, Colourful Spring in Tallinn, Sirp, 03.04.2014
Mario Laul, Self Reflections and Future, Sirp, 26.04.2013
Margus Tamm, Fictive Art of Painting, Artishok, 02.07.2010
Hanno Soans, Changing Art of Painting has Chosen Processuality, Sirp, 28.05.2010
Publications
Homage to Asphal“, Mirko Zardini, (translation Ingrid Ruudi), photo illustrations, Ehituskunst no. 57, 2015
Bent Matter, Madli Ehasalu / Sven Parker, NEW MATERIAL, (publication / exhibition), 2014