Ivar Kaasik
Ivar Kaasik was born in 1965 in Kuressaare, Estonia. He initially studied architecture at the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn and continued his studies at the University of Art and Design Halle/Saale, Germany. In 1992-98 he worked as a goldsmith in Germany and in 1996 was one of the 30 winners of the prestigious De Beers The Diamonds-International Award 1996 (“Jewellery Oscar”). Ivar Kaasik has been working as a freelance artist since 1999.
Ivar Kaasik’s works are often incomprehensible and not easy to explain. The human condition is one of the main themes of his work, whereby he does not merely remain on the surface of social orders and expectations, but dives directly into the world of the human condition. The artist’s irony, together with his unparalleled artistic talent and an astonishing painting technique, have moulded a temporal atmosphere in his works that is immersed in uniqueness. He often chooses pop icons or scenes from life as his motifs; blurring, blurred contours and pale, pastel-coloured tones alienate the people depicted, making the pictures appear strange, cool and distant. He himself has written the following about his work:
Is there something you haven’t seen yet? Perhaps this will become a new challenge for painting: to show what cannot be shown. What could replace the endless opposition of abstract vs. figurative or unique vs. appropriation art? Are these the two arbitrarily named poles between which modern painting oscillates discordantly and which make painting interesting for us?
Ivar Kaasik’s works are shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions and hang in private and public collections. A representative cross-section of the artist’s creative path was last presented in Berlin in 2012 with the exhibition “Homage to Kaasik’s Abstractions from 1992-2012” at the Art Place Gallery. The latest works by Ivar Kaasik will be on display in the current exhibition “before now”.
Ivar Kaasik lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Single Exhibitions:
- 2024 Before now nüüd.berlin, Berlin
- 2023 Homme. Täna. Eile. Raegalerii, Kuressaare, Estonia
- 2022 With light. With love. Kunstnike Maja galerii, Pärnu, Estonia
- 2022 Elu ja surm. Löpp ja algus, A-galerii Tallinn, Estonia
- 2021 La guerre et la paix, Kastellaanimaja muuseum, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2021 Autonoomia(ta) autoportree, Haus galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2020 Saare naine Raegalerii, Kuressaare, Estonia
- 2019-20 Tuhk, tolm ja teemant A-galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2019 Powder of women/Eesti naine Vabaduse galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2019 Project Buddy Bear Berlin, Hampton by Hilton, Berlin
- 2018/19 Maalid Galerii Kohvik Tuum, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2018 Wasserwelten Kunsthaus Klüber, Weinheim (with Folkert Rasch)
- 2018 Legend. Pärnu pommitamine Pärnu Linnagalerii, Pärnu, Estonia
- 2018 Narva pommitamine Narva Muuseum, Narva, Estonia
- 2017 Pop & Clam Evald Okase majamuuseum, Haapsalu (mit Andro Kööp), Estonia
- 2017 Leistikow Revisited Egbert Baque Contemporary Art, Berlin
- 2017 Famma et Aqua Tallinn Art Space, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2016 Summa rerum Galerie Dirk Halverscheid, München
- 2016 Phenomenon Art Place Berlin, Berlin
- 2015 The New Oil Galerii HOP, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2015 Enfant Terrible Tartu Art House, Tartu, Estonia
- 2015 Camera Obscura Eesti Draamateatri galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2014 The Wrong Room A-galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2014 Äärepealt Jää-äär, Berlin
- 2013 Picture. Pilt Vabaduse galerii, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2013 So klingt Europa Galerie Lichthof BMF, Berlin
- 2013 Multum Pecuniae Monogalerii, Tallinn. Estonia
- 2013 Before the Silence. Abstract Painting 1993-2013 Art Place Berlin, Berlin
- 2012/13 Was hab´ ich getan? Galerie Meisterschüler, Berlin
- 2012 Das Meer Embassy of the Republic of Estonia, Berlin
- 2011 Paintings Art Place Berlin, Berlin
- 2011 Project Ettevaatust, kunst!, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2010 Ecce Simulacrum Egbert Baque Contemporary Art, Berlin
- 2009 Ivar Kaasik Galerie Gärtner, Berlin
- 2009 Mare Culture Center, Kuressaare, Estonia
- 2007/09 Project Goodbye Estonia, Berlin/Göttingen/Kuressaare, Estonia
- 2007 The Happy End Egbert Baqué Contemporary Art, Berlin
- 2006 Ivar Kaasik. Malerei Galerie David, Bielefeld
- 2006 Potemkinsches Dorf Art Hall Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2005 Solo Art Cologne 2005
- 2005 Neue Arbeiten Galerie Ahlers, Göttingen
- 2004 All Viviann Napp Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2004 SchwarzRotGold Galerie artlonga, Berlin
- 2003 My home is my castle Gallery Haus/Ühispank, Tallinn, Estonia
- 2003 Katastrophen Galerie artlonga, Berlin
- 2002 Back to the roots Gallery Raegalerii, Kuressaare, Estonia
- 2001 Landschaften Galerie Thea Fischer-Reinhardt, Berlin
- 2000 Neue Arbeiten Galerie Thea Fischer-Reinhardt, Berlin
- 1998/99 Neue Arbeiten Galerie Thea Fischer-Reinhardt, Berlin
- 1998 Email Goldschmiede Roggenbach, Berlin
- 1997 Ring Valgus Geomeetria Gallery A, Tallinn, Estonia
- 1996 Autoriehted Gallery EraPank, Kuressaare, Estonia
- 1995 Landschaften Europa-Center, Berlin
- 1992 Paganlik jumalikkus (diplom) Gallery Molen, Tallinn, Estonia
- 1990 Abschluss Burg Giebichenstein, Halle
