First UK solo exhibition by the Estonian artist Marko Mäetamm at NETTIE HORN

02.04.2010 - 02.05.2010

MARKO MÄETAMM
Love, fear and warning signs

2 APRIL – 2 MAY 2010
Private View: Thursday 1 April, 6-9 pm
NETTIE HORN, 25B VYNER STREET, LONDON, E2 9DG

NETTIE HORN is pleased to present the first UK solo exhibition by the Estonian artist Marko Mäetamm. Having represented Estonia at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007, Mäetamm presents here a new body of work consisting of a series of sculptures, video animations, photographs and drawings. Being simultaneously autobiographical and fictional, Mäetamm‘s works embody, with humour and auto-derision, authentic odes to life alongside acidic complaints on the complex familial and sentimental relationships between oneself and others. Flirting inexorably with his own reality, Mäetamm enjoys the act of confessing; his status as an artist being predominantly at the origin of a series of fictional “mises-en-scènes” during which conflicts and familial dramas escalate, sometimes towards irreversible acts.

Throughout Maetamm‘s world of disconcerting sincerity, the spectator becomes a privilegied viewer to the intimate worries and emotional tragedies experienced by the artist and at the same time identifies with the issues addressed within the works.

Maetamm’s latest body of work is particularly centered on his relationship with his wife and the ambiguous and ambivalent emotions attached to certain conflictual aspects of an amorous relationship. Confronting his personal feelings often leads him to address critical topics in society, such as the role of the family, consumerism, jealousy, sex, domestic violence... His act of transcribing, often very bluntly, certain private moments introduces a humorous and yet invaluably sincere take on these universal emotions and taboo feelings which are guiltlessly exposed by the artist in a series of narratives reminiscent of a contemporary satire. Mäetamm’s work is ironically subtle and plays with the daunting aspects of life in general; his sculptural series “Little Dramas” presents us with suicide scenes assembled playfully with miniature toys – and ironically presenting various extreme solutions to the daily grind.

The apparent naïvety in Maëtamm’s works stems from an orchastrated play created to overcome certain fears; almost as a way to avoid confronting in a responsible and adult manner any so-called rational truths and daily conflicts. Confronted with this emotional outpour, varied reactions from the viewer ensue, from a deep sense of unease to an unexpected and yet liberating laugh.

Marko Mäetamm was born in 1965 in Viljandi (Estonia). He lives and works in Tallinn (Estonia). Recent solo shows include: Another Day with My Family, Kunstraum Goethestrasse XTD, Linz, Austria, 2009; Kicsiny Balàzs & Marko Mäetamm, Gallery of Hungarian Institute, Tallinn, Estonia (2008) ; From There to Here, Nosbaum&Reding, Luxembourg (2007); Loser’s Paradise, Estonian Pavilion at 52nd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2007). Recent group shows include: XXI Brooklyn International Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2009 ; Hors Piste, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2009 ; Locws international 4: Art across the City, Swansea, UK, 2009 ; Home Sweet Home, Dorsky Gallery, NY, 2009 ; Helsinki Biennale 2008, Helsinki, Finland; Paradise Is Not Lost, Gallery Zurab Tsereteli, Moscow, Russia , 2008; Baltic States, part III, Contemporary Art From Estonia, Kalmar Konstmuseum, Kalmar, Sweden (2007).