Kaido Ole turns pessimism into paintings in new exhibition

Estonian artist Kaido Ole has channelled anxiety and negative feelings into a new series of paintings titled “Krt,” ERR reported. The exhibition is open at the Temnikova and Kasela gallery in Tallinn.

Ole said he is going through a pessimistic period in which the bad things in life have begun to outweigh the good.

“Everything has its good and bad side, and if you are highly sensitive, you start to see the bad side more. That is the result,” Ole said.

He said he had previously tried to put negative feelings into his paintings and believed in the healing power of art. Creating a good work, he said, could at least partly make the bad feel less bad.

“But I was disappointed in the sense that I did not feel better afterwards. Maybe these works are quite good, but I still feel bad,” Ole said.

Ole compared dealing with negativity to handling an aggressive dog: trying to tame it and find the right place for it.

“The point of making art is that it has to form a whole. A whole means balance: everything is in its place and has been worked out so that it starts to function. And when the bad and the oppressive have found their place in the painting, they have found their place,” he said.

The exhibition remains open at the Temnikova and Kasela gallery until October 10.