Memory Fades II

Saskia Järve (1979) who had solo exhibitions at Tartu Art Hall and Toompea Art Space in 2016, acquired a master’s in painting from the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2009. As a figurative painter she deals with everyday events, therein focusing on the intricacy and psychology of humanity. In her work there is a mixture of scenes from her personal archive as well as anecdotal and pop-cultural symbols and stories, which seem to us simultaneously both familiar and foreign.

Tallinn Art Hall curator Siim Preiman suggests that the common denominator in Järve’s recent paintings is the sea. “We have already been acquainted with the sea in her master’s work. In the series Memory Fades, spanning many years, the sea has lent her its blue-grey colour scheme, a spectral ship emerges from the sea and the series ends as a Hollywood-esque pink sun sets into the sea.

At the exhibition Memory Fades II  we see the result of Järve actively following the scent. New angles on stories more or less known to us all emerge through a reworking by the artist; they appear as singular events for a moment in our consciousness and then fade again into the vast sea of collective memory. Indeed, Järve surprisingly finds herself once more on a known playing field. While reading about shared memories the painter discovered that the ability of an individual to recall and remember is intertwined with the framework of collective memory. A requirement for storing individual memories is that their content is also collective.

The audio for the exhibition was provided by sound-artist and sound designer Villem Jahu, who in addition to contributing audio for exhibitions gives frequent live performances both in Estonia as well as abroad and in 2016 released a new album.

The exhibition is supported thanks to: the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Tallinn Department of Culture, Veinisõber, Pixmill Estonia, Paul Järve, Villem Jahu, Villu Villmann