Artist Vello Väärtnõu Between East and West - interview by Sulev Teinemaa

Original article in Estonian

Translated Article

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Kunstnik Vello Väärtnõu Ida ja Lääne vahel

About this article

Newspaper	Estonian newspaper published in Estonia
Date	Autumn, shortly before the opening of the exhibition at the G Gallery in Tallinn in the second week of October (1989 or 1990)
Author	Sulev Teinemaa (interview); photo Tõnu Hellam
Language	Estonian
Subject	Interview with Vello Väärtnõu before his first solo exhibition in Tallinn, an exhibition sale of ten paintings at the «G» gallery on Narva maantee. Topics: his last exhibition in Estonia in 1982 and his expulsion from the youth section of the Artists' Union, his founding of the Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia, the ERSP idea in 1987 and his expulsion from Estonia in February 1988, the Buddhist temple being built under his guidance at his summer home in Veltsa near Lihula, his art (abstraction, Eastern influence, metallic tones, mixed technique, works under glass, spatial works), his exhibitions abroad and planned exhibitions in the USA, sales to a Leningrad gallery, prices in Estonia and Sweden, and his plans to publish the Buddhist books translated by the Brotherhood and to hold a Buddhist exhibition of ritual objects, thangkas and sculptures in Estonia.
Photo	Portrait of Vello Väärtnõu, arms folded, in front of a thatched building (photo Tõnu Hellam)

Kunstnik Vello Väärtnõu Ida ja Lääne vahel

Kunstnik Vello Väärtnõu töid on ilmselt küllalt vähesed näinud. Viimati olid tema maalid Eestis näitusel 1982. aastal. Siis aga heideti ta Kunstnike Liidu noortekoondisest välja ning muidugi jäi ära ka tööde avalikkuse ees eksponeerimise võimalus. Pärast seda tegeles ta innukalt budismiga, organiseeris koguni Eestimaa Budistliku Vennaskonna, mis tegutseb tänaseni. 1987 pakkus Vello Väärtnõu välja ERSP loomise idee, järgmise aasta veebruaris saadeti ta aga Eestist välja. Praegu elab hr. Väärtnõu Stockholmis. Tänavu on ta kolm kuud veetnud oma suvekodus Lihula lähedal Veltsas, kuhu tema juhtimisel rajatakse budistlikku templit. Muidugi on ta kogu suve ka maalinud.

Oktoobri teisel nädalal avatakse Vello Väärtnõu esimene personaalnäitus Tallinnas. Galeriis "G", mis asub Teenindusmaja kõrval Narva maantee alguses, on müügiks kümme maali. Seoses tema tööde esmakordse suurema väljapanekuga kodumaal esitasin hr. Väärtnõule mõned küsimused, selgitamaks tema maailma- ja kunstinägemist.

Sa viljeled abstraktset kunsti, sellega alustasid ka omal ajal. On sinu looming teinud läbi mingi muutuse ja kui, siis milles see väljendub?

Alustasin tõepoolest abstraktsete töödega, kuid need ei tahtnud näitustel läbi minna, ja siis olin sunnitud üle minema figuraalsetele kompositsioonidele ja maastikele. Kuna olen kaua aega huvi tundnud idamaade kunsti vastu, siis kahtlemata on sealne maailmanägemine mõjutanud ka minu loomingut.

Varem kasutasin küllalt eredaid, teadlikult robustseid, tihti võikaid värvitoone. Nüüd olen püüdnud olla õrnem, tundlikum, aastatega on mahedust juurde tulnud. Armastan luua faktuurilisi pindu, kasutada metalseid toone. Ent minu töödes on pindade lahendus jäänud siiani abstraktseks. Mängin puhtalt värviga. Minu maalid on pinnalahendused, kompositsioonid. Pilt ise on minu jaoks nagu sisenemine mingisse maailma, ta peab edastama teatud emotsionaalseid seisundeid, alateadvust. Seega on maal emotsionaalne värvirida, hetkevisioon, olgugi et pilti töödeldakse tunduvalt kauem kui seda on hetk.

Looming on see protsess, mille läbi inimene areneb. Minu jaoks pole loomine mitte üksnes pildi maalimine või otseselt kunstiga tegelemine, vaid ka suhtlemine, elamine, olemine. Kõike, mida inimene teeb, ka oma igapäevases elus jm., peaks ta võtma kui loomingut ja suhtuma sellesse loovalt.

Sa nimetad oma maale tihti graafilisteks töödeks. Milliseid tehnilisi vahendeid sa kasutad?

Tegelikult pole see muidugi mingi graafika, ennem ikkagi maal, olgugi et tööd on klaasi all. Kasutan teostusel väga paljusid erinevaid meetodeid. Muidugi ka pintslit, kuid peale selle aerograafi, siiditrükki jm. Värvide valik on mul väga lai, põhiliselt on aga siiski akrüül- ja õlivärvid. Ütleme, et mul on segatehnika. Ja eks oma saladus on ka olemas, see on igaühel ja too teebki meid huvitavaks.

Kunagi peeti sind perspektiivikaks loodusemaalijaks. Mis sa sellest nüüd arvad?

Kõik asjad, värvid, kompositsioonid on looduses olemas. Vajadust millegi leiutamiseks tegelikult pole. Minu jaoks on kunst nagu maailma uurimine mikroskoobiga. Sisemise, psüühilise maailma vastandamine välisele loodusele, kus kõik ilmneb puhtalt värvide, kompositsioonide näol.

Puht loodusepilte ma aga ei tee. Kui võtta selge, silmaga tajutav realistlik aluspõhi, siis mulle tundub, et see on maailmas tuhandeid ja tuhandeid kordi ära maalitud. Pole võimalik selles laadis teha paremini XV-XVI sajandi meistritest. Abstraktsionism kui väljendusmeetod annab aga tohutu võimaluste diapasooni.

Ütled, et tegeled ka skulptuuriga?

Olen Rootsis tõepoolest teinud ruumilisi ja vormikaid töid. Õigupoolest pole need ei maalid ega skulptuurid. See on vahest neljakandiline aken, millest vormid tulevad esile paar-kolmkümmend sentimeetrit. Eesti näitusel sellised tööd puuduvad.

Sinu kunstist on Lääne ajakirjanduses päris palju kirjutatud, sul on olnud näitusi mitmel pool. Vahest räägid ise sellest.

Mu tööd on olnud vaadata Zürichis, Hamburgis, Frankfurdis Maini ääres, Münchenis, Stockholmis, Vaasas. On kokkulepe näituste korraldamiseks kolmes USA linnas: Los Angeleses, San Franciscos, Bostonis. Jõulude aegu peaks see teoks saama. Ameerikas tundis minu tööde vastu huvi sealses kultuurielus tuntud isik Margareth Pollock, kes nägi fotosid maalidest ning mõnda originaali, mille vennad Tarmo ja Toomas Urb kaasa võtsid.

Üks Leningradi galerii Nevski prospektil ostis hiljuti minult 20 tööd, ka üks Moskva oma tundis minu maalide vastu huvi.

Kuidas sul tekkis nii äkki Tallinna näituse kavatsus. Olime kuu aega tagasi koos, siis ütlesid vaid, et Hansa aidas on müügil mõned sinu tööd.

Pean siinkohal tänama Lepo Sumerat idee eest. Käisin Kultuuriministeeriumis, et saada luba oma maalide Rootsi viimiseks. See anti mulle lahkesti, ainult minister pani mulle südamele, et näitaksin siiski oma töid ka kaasmaalastele. Küsisin kõigepealt galeriist "Vaal", et kuidas nad suhtuksid näituse korraldamisse, seal aga mõeldakse senini. Siis tuli ootamatult Anne Velliku pakkumine näitusmüügi korraldamiseks galeriis "G".

Rootsis saaksid sa oma tööde müügist ilmselt rohkem. Kas see mõtlema ei pannud?

Eestis on minu maali hinnaks 1500 rubla, Rootsis saaksin samasuguse eest 7000-8000 krooni. Kuid asi pole rahas. Tahan jätta oma jälje ka Eestimaale, näidata, et ma ikka pilte teen. Olen näiteks pikka aega budismiga tegelenud ja see pole kunagi raha sisse toonud. Nii mõnigi kord polnud mul kopikatki taskus. Raha pole mulle kunagi see kõige tähtsam olnud.

Poliitikaga sa enam ei tegele. Leiad, et oled oma osa andnud ning võimekaid poliitikuid on sinutagi praegu rohkesti. Maalimise kõrval on sul mitmeid konkreetseid kavatsusi eesti rahva valgustamiseks budismi alal?

Tahaksin mõnetuhandelises tiraažis ja muidugi redigeerituna välja anda need budistlikud raamatud, mis omal ajal said Budistliku Vennaskonna poolt tõlgitud. Samuti oleks tore korraldada Eestis budistlik näitus, kus oleksid rituaalesemed, pühapildid – tankad, skulptuurid. Neid on olemas küllaltki palju. Vahest mõjutaks see Ida lähedus mingil määral ka eesti kunsti. Pole ju Ida ja Lääne vahe kuigi suur.

SULEV TEINEMAA
TÕNU HELLAMI foto

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This translation is provided by AI

Artist Vello Väärtnõu Between East and West

About this article

In this interview, published in an Estonian newspaper in the autumn shortly before his first solo exhibition in Tallinn, Sulev Teinemaa talks with Vello Väärtnõu about his life and art. The introduction recalls that his paintings were last shown in Estonia in 1982, after which he was expelled from the youth section of the Artists' Union; that he then devoted himself to Buddhism and founded the Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia; that in 1987 he proposed the idea of founding the ERSP and in February 1988 was expelled from Estonia; and that he now lives in Stockholm but has spent three months of the summer at his summer home in Veltsa near Lihula, where a Buddhist temple is being built under his guidance. Vello speaks about his abstract art and the influence of the East, his mixed technique, his exhibitions abroad, why money has never been the most important thing for him, and his plans to publish the Buddhist books translated by the Brotherhood and to hold a Buddhist exhibition of ritual objects, thangkas and sculptures in Estonia.

Artist Vello Väärtnõu Between East and West

Probably rather few people have seen the works of the artist Vello Väärtnõu. His paintings were last on show at an exhibition in Estonia in 1982. Then, however, he was expelled from the youth section of the Artists' Union, and of course the possibility of showing his works in public was lost too. After that he devoted himself eagerly to Buddhism, and even organized the Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia, which is active to this day. In 1987 Vello Väärtnõu proposed the idea of founding the ERSP, but in February of the following year he was sent out of Estonia. At present Mr. Väärtnõu lives in Stockholm. This year he has spent three months at his summer home in Veltsa near Lihula, where a Buddhist temple is being built under his guidance. Of course he has also been painting the whole summer.

In the second week of October Vello Väärtnõu's first solo exhibition in Tallinn will open. In the «G» gallery, which is located next to the Service House at the beginning of Narva maantee, ten paintings are for sale. In connection with this first larger showing of his works in the homeland, I put some questions to Mr. Väärtnõu, to shed light on how he sees the world and art.

You practise abstract art, and that is also how you began in your time. Has your work gone through some change, and if so, in what way does it show?

I really did begin with abstract works, but they did not want to get through at exhibitions, and so I was forced to go over to figurative compositions and landscapes. Since I have long been interested in the art of the Eastern countries, the way of seeing the world there has undoubtedly influenced my work too.

Earlier I used rather bright, deliberately robust, often garish colour tones. Now I have tried to be gentler, more sensitive; with the years more mellowness has come. I love to create textured surfaces and to use metallic tones. But in my works the treatment of the surfaces has remained abstract up to now. I play purely with colour. My paintings are surface solutions, compositions. For me the picture itself is like an entry into some world; it must convey certain emotional states, the subconscious. So a painting is an emotional sequence of colours, a vision of a moment, even though the picture is worked on considerably longer than a moment.

Creation is the process through which a person develops. For me creating is not only painting a picture or working directly with art, but also communicating, living, being. Everything a person does, also in his everyday life and so on, he should take as creation and approach creatively.

You often call your paintings graphic works. What technical means do you use?

In fact of course it is not any kind of graphic art, rather it is still painting, even though the works are under glass. In making them I use a great many different methods. Of course the brush too, but besides that the airbrush, silkscreen printing and so on. My choice of colours is very wide, but mainly they are still acrylic and oil paints. Let us say that I have a mixed technique. And of course there is also a secret of one's own; everyone has one, and that is just what makes us interesting.

At one time you were considered a promising nature painter. What do you think about that now?

All things, colours, compositions are present in nature. There is really no need to invent anything. For me art is like exploring the world with a microscope. Setting the inner, psychic world against outer nature, where everything appears purely in the form of colours and compositions.

But I do not make pure nature pictures. If one takes a clear realistic foundation perceptible to the eye, then it seems to me that this has been painted thousands and thousands of times in the world. It is not possible to do better in that manner than the masters of the 15th and 16th centuries. Abstractionism as a method of expression, however, gives an enormous range of possibilities.

You say that you also work in sculpture?

In Sweden I have indeed made spatial, sculptural works. Strictly speaking they are neither paintings nor sculptures. It is perhaps a four-cornered window from which forms come forward some twenty or thirty centimetres. Such works are absent from the Estonian exhibition.

Quite a lot has been written about your art in the Western press, and you have had exhibitions in many places. Perhaps you will tell about it yourself.

My works have been on view in Zurich, Hamburg, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Stockholm and Vaasa. There is an agreement to hold exhibitions in three cities in the USA: Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. This should come about around Christmas time. In America an interest in my works was taken by Margareth Pollock, a person well known in the cultural life there, who saw photographs of the paintings and some originals that the brothers Tarmo and Toomas Urb took with them.

A gallery in Leningrad on Nevsky Prospekt recently bought 20 works from me, and one in Moscow has also shown interest in my paintings.

How did the plan for a Tallinn exhibition come about so suddenly? We were together a month ago, and then you only said that some of your works were on sale at Hansa Ait.

Here I must thank Lepo Sumera for the idea. I went to the Ministry of Culture to get permission to take my paintings to Sweden. It was kindly granted to me; only the minister urged me to show my works to my fellow countrymen too. First I asked the «Vaal» gallery how they would feel about arranging an exhibition, but there they are still thinking it over. Then unexpectedly came Anne Vellik's offer to arrange an exhibition sale at the «G» gallery.

In Sweden you would obviously get more from selling your works. Did that not make you think?

In Estonia the price of my painting is 1500 roubles; in Sweden I would get 7000 to 8000 kronor for one like it. But it is not about the money. I want to leave my mark on Estonia too, to show that I am still making pictures. For example, I have been engaged in Buddhism for a long time, and it has never brought in any money. Many a time I did not have a single kopeck in my pocket. Money has never been the most important thing for me.

You no longer take part in politics. You find that you have given your share, and that there are now plenty of capable politicians even without you. Besides painting, do you have several concrete plans for enlightening the Estonian people in the field of Buddhism?

I would like to publish, in an edition of several thousand copies and of course edited, those Buddhist books that were translated in their time by the Buddhist Brotherhood. It would also be wonderful to arrange a Buddhist exhibition in Estonia, with ritual objects, sacred images (thangkas) and sculptures. There are quite a lot of them. Perhaps this nearness of the East would to some degree influence Estonian art too. After all, the difference between East and West is not so very great.

SULEV TEINEMAA
Photo by TÕNU HELLAM

Notes

• The ERSP (Eesti Rahvusliku Sõltumatuse Partei) is the Estonian National Independence Party.
• The Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia (Eestimaa Budistlik Vennaskond) was the Buddhist community founded by Vello Väärtnõu in Soviet Estonia.
• Lepo Sumera, the composer, was Minister of Culture of Estonia from 1988 to 1992.
• Thangkas (Estonian tankad) are Tibetan Buddhist sacred scroll paintings.