On April 25, Tanel Veenre opened a solo exhibition at the prestigious Munich gallery Biró. Located in the heart of a modern city, the gallery founded 32 years ago was one of the first to focus on jewellery made of artificial materials, shifting the focus from precious materials to the artist’s vision. Tanel Veenre has been cooperating with the gallery since 2007 when the exhibition “Weg” was opened together with Kadri Mälk and Piret Hirv.
The artist at the opening with the legendary gallerist Olga Biró
Tanel Veenre’s “Luul” continues with the series that started at the beginning of spring at the Truus gallery in Tallinn, the centre of which is the shape of the lips. This is an exhibition of lust, eroticism and play. “Luul” is Tanel Veenre’s most pop art series, the forms are simplified to lush shapes. As a new layer, many of the jewellery in the exhibition are multifunctional – a necklace can become a brooch and a brooch can become a pendant.
All works in the exhibition are engraved from a special material – reconstructed stone. This hybrid material is made of natural stone dust and synthetic resin, combining natural and artificial. Veenre also combines a similar world of alienation and real desires in his work. The shape of the lip seems to promise sensuality, the primordial layers of being human, but under the hand of the artist, it has been distilled into images that do not tolerate objection.
The artist reveals the background behind the dramatic jewellery performance: “I intervened forcefully, turning the gallery space into a powdery boudoir. I hung pale pink frills on the walls, from which clawing mouths reach out to the viewer, demanding contact, entering into a conversation.” On the opposite wall, massive necklaces stick out of the display cases as if licking the room with their tongue.
Galerist Olga Biró decided to add a colourful photo of Edith Karloson wearing Veenre jewellery with her mother to the back wall of the gallery as a spontaneous accent, created by photo legend Toomas Volkmann and stylist Gerly Tinn.
In parallel with the solo exhibition in Munich, Veenre, who is actively participating in international art life, has several other exhibitions opening soon. In the MDAC art centre of Cagnes-sur-Mer, the exhibition “Détournements Naturels” will open on May 2 as part of the jewellery week Destination Bijou, where the trio of French curators Sébastien Carré, Isabelle Busnel & Juan Riusech chose the Veenre jewellery series from the relationship between nature and death. On May 9, the anniversary exhibition “20 Years of Design Without Borders” (curated by Silvia Szigeti) will be opened at the Kiscelli Museum in Budapest, where Venus’ ebony and coral jewellery will be presented. On May 11, the Ornamentum Gallery (curator Stefan Friedman) will open a summer exhibition in the USA of Venus fishing line caps with baroque brooches and earrings. On May 16, at the Putti Gallery in Riga, at the exhibition “Is there anyone?” (curator Agita Putane) Veenre’s white moulded wooden draperies from the “Tahe” series are on display.
Tanel’s necklace and brooch from reconstructed stone
Muse: Rain Saarik
