An intoxicating and affluent celebration of Estonian painting at the Mikkel Museum

The exhibition Art Addiction: Reigo Kuivjõgi’s Art Collection will open at the Mikkel Museum on 24 May, presenting a summary of Reigo Kuivjõgi’s long-term collecting process. The exhibition offers the joy of meeting many Estonian artists: both luminaries and classics, as well as representatives of the youngest generation of painters.

Reigo Kuivjõgi is one of the most influential figures in the local art scene, having rallied young artists and numerous art enthusiasts around his gallery and the auctions he organises. For more than a decade, he has been conducting auctions of young artists. He has also opened his own gallery and collected a significant amount of art. The focus of Kuivjõgi’s collection has changed over time, but has remained largely focused on Estonia. More than twenty years ago, he began by collecting the works of Estonian artists who had been living abroad since World War II, after which his collection began to expand, with works by avant-garde masters of the second half of the last century – now classics of Estonian art – as well as contemporary artists.

These three directions are presented in the exhibition in a lively dialogue that creates thematic associations according to the aesthetics and fields of meaning of the works. The title of the exhibition, Art Addiction, was not merely chosen to attract the visitor’s attention, but Reigo Kuivjõgi used the word addiction at the beginning of the exhibition preparation process to characterise his relationship with art. To quote the curatorial text from the exhibition catalogue, “Addiction refers to a need. An urge. A kind of desire that ignites under the right conditions like an alkali metal exposed to air: spontaneously and uncontrollably. And unlike passions, addictions tend to not go away.”

“A collector’s collection, as long as it is being collected, is never complete. For the collector, the collection means both the process and its result, both the passion of collecting and the pleasure of collecting. A living collection collects itself,” said Aleksander Metsamärt, the curator of the exhibition, who has closely studied the collector and his relationship with his collection.

The exhibition features over 70 works by 45 very diverse authors, from Leonhard Lapin, Enn Põldroos, Peeter Allik, Jaan Toomik and Marko Mäetamm to Alar Tuul, Alexei Gordin and Robin Nõgisto.

Art Addiction continues the series of exhibitions at Mikkel Museum dedicated to the study and popularisation of private collections, introducing contemporary art collections, and presenting the audience with a summary of a vibrant and intensely developing collection. But above all, it is an encounter with very good works of art and an exciting opportunity to see the works of young artists alongside recognised Estonian great masters.

Curator: Aleksander Metsamärt
Exhibition design: Peeter Laurits
Graphic design: Else Lagerspetz