Miljard Kilk
The exhibition is open in the gallery of the Estonian National Museum from 26th November 2021 until 8th May 2022.The museum’s own exhibitions are open from 10:00–18:00 Wednesday-Sunday.
Miljard Kilk is an artist who has transitioned in his work from photorealism to almost abstract conceptualism and who today paints images of pure fantasy that are baroque in their level of detail. Like all true denizens of the southern Estonian city of Tartu, he loves colour. The Estonian National Museum showcase covers the artist’s entire body of work and marks the publication of the artist’s first catalogue. Most of the 50 paintings on display are from private collections, so there are surprises aplenty in the exhibition. It overlaps with the anniversary exhibition of Tartu Art School showing in Foyer B at the same time, which highlights the works of leading artists who studied and taught at the school from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Curator: Reet Mark
Designer: Emma Eensalu
Miljard Kilk received his education in artistic leather design at the Tartu Art School. Already before graduation in 1976 he had started visiting the University of Tartu’s Art Studio, led by Andrus Kasemaa, where the foundations for the Tartu version of hyperrealism were being established. Miljard Kilk and Ilmar Kruusamäe have since become the most recognisable authors of this style. Hyperrealist pictures were painted from black and white or colour slides projections. Kilk’s works are cheerful, irritating and full of hidden meanings. He mainly depicted contemporary life and the activities of his friends and acquaintances in large formats and using a multitude of colours to offset the greyness of everyday life. The paintings and photos were mostly staged, and the style used mainly realism. After moving to Tallinn in 1981, Kilk’s circle of acquaintances expanded, with famous artists and theatre professionals appearing in his works. Alongside pictures full of action, Kilk also painted urban views and still lifes that astound us today with their nostalgia. The slide painting period lasted roughly from 1977 to 1986.
From 1982 to 1998, Kilk worked in a team led by director Priit Pärn at the Tallinnfilm cartoon studio as colouring artist for all of Pärn’s internationally acclaimed animations. He also participated in the legendary Tallinnfilm surrealist exhibitions held from 1986 to 1989. These years act as a breaking point in his oeuvre with a change in his methods. Thereafter, figural compositions remain but the characters become increasingly fantastical and their connection with reality disappears. The first pictures in this new manner are even partially abstract. The content of the paintings is allegorical with the artist often using mythology and scenes from the Bible to point out contemporary problems. This is also attested to by anachronistic objects such as a computer on a Medieval table, a watch on a horseman’s wrist, etc. Realist and even hyperrealist colouring continues in Kilk’s city views and nature scenes. These later works are on display in the internal gallery.
Miljard Kilk walks his current path alone, there are no others like him in Estonian art.
