On Wednesday, January 8, at 18.00, Marko Mäetamm’s exhibition Once Upon a Time will open at Draakon Gallery. At the exhibition opening, there will be an artist talk between the artist and art historian Aleksander Metsamärt at 7 PM. The exhibition will remain open until February 1, 2025.
Psychiatrists and psychopaths might appreciate what Marko Mäetamm is doing, though I suspect both— for entirely different reasons— would take offense at the suggestion. Jungians and Freudians alike have long praised the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and other Northern storytellers for introducing young children to life's harsher realities.
“Give me a child until he is 7 and I will give you the man.” This quote is often attributed to Ignatius Loyola, but Marko Mäetamm’s interest in exploring our childish minds is quite different. Mäetamm is not focused on shaping children into Jesuit missionaries; rather, he is searching for the Berserker within us—the Viking warrior driven by madness—who might understand and even appreciate Snow White's desire to behead the seven dwarfs for their trivial, gnome-like fantasies and who would also understand Red Riding Hood’s need to give the Wolf Viagra so he is ripe for the rape of her grandmother. The reader must also understand why a child might confuse a pedophile on the roof with Father Christmas, and consequently welcome him into their bed. If you don't grasp the distinction between right and wrong after engaging with Mäetamm’s fairytales, you likely never will.
Alistair Hicks,
freelance curator, London, UK
For artist Marko Mäetamm, creation is a means of communication. He seeks to spark dialogues between his artwork and the viewer, encouraging audiences to confront their comfort zones and question societal taboos. His works arise from what deeply concerns and disturbs him in the world around him. They are reflections of the present moment, as the present is the only time that truly exists.
Marko Mäetamm studied printmaking (BA 1993) and fine arts (MA 1995) in Estonian Academy of Art and printmaking techniques in Swedish Royal Art High School. He has been in artist residencies in New York (2010) and Paris (2011). He has participated in international group exhibitions and presented numerous solo shows. In 2003 (together with Kaido Ole) and 2007 the artist represented Estonia at the Venice Biennale. Mäetamm has been awarded the Kristjan Raud Prize (2000) Fifth Class Order of the White Star (2008), the Baltic Assembly Art Prize, the Estonian National Culture Award (2010 and 2019) and been nominated for the Köler Prize.
Official home page: www.maetamm.net
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