Noblessner, Kai Art Center building – Peetri 12, 10415, Tallinn, Estonia, +372 6405770, info@temnikova.ee. Wed–Fri 13–18 Sat–Sun 14–18, Closed on March 29.

Jaan Toomik

Jaan Toomik (b. 1961) is an acknowledged Estonian painter, video and performance artist. Having started out as a painting student in the late 1980s, his practice shifted towards installation and performance art after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the last decade, Toomik has become increasingly involved in film, writing and directing a short film “Oleg” (2010) and a feature film “Landscape with Many Moons” (2014).


Toomik gained international recognition in the 1990s primarily for his video works. His works like “Way To Sao Paulo” (1994) shown at the Sao Paulo biennial that year, and “Dancing Home” first screened in Helsinki at ARS ’95, laid the foundations of Toomik’s practice which proceeded to trace and transcend both geographical and autobiographical borders. The artist’s most successful and well known work “Father and Son” (1998) portrayed the artist skiing naked on the frozen Baltic sea to the soundtrack of his then 10-year-old son’s religious choir singing. The video belongs to several private and museum collections, including Estonian Art Museum, Tallinn; Erika Hoffmann collection, Berlin; Stedeljik museum, Amsterdam; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Ludwig museum, Budapest. Toomik's artworks are represented in prominent contemporary art collections such as Louis Vuitton Foundation, Trussardi Foundation, V-A-C and many others.


Toomik has exhibited widely, both at home and abroad, where he has participated in the first Manifesta (1996), 4th Berlin Contemporary Art Biennial (2006) and represented Estonia at the Venice Biennial twice, in 1997 and 2003. His recent solo exhibitions and screenings include “My End is My Beginning. And My Beginning is My End”, Moscow Museum of Modern Art; “A Theatre of Gestures”, curated by Andris Brinkmanis, The Mukusala Art Salon, Riga (2018); “How the West Was Left”, curated by Anders Kreuger, Central Market, Tallinn (2017); Film and video retrospective, 63rd International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (2017); “First Slumber”, Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2016); "Smells Like Old Men's Spirit", Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn (2015); 84 HRZ Gallery, Munich; Werkstattgalerie, Berlin (2014); Galleri Sult / Skur 6 , Stavanger; Orton Gallery, Helsinki (2013); ARTRA Gallery, Milano; Pop/off art Gallery, Moscow (2012).

Selected works

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Family Tree

Bronze, concrete 177×54×70cm 2022

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Untitled

Acrylic, canvas 120×102cm 2021

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Untitled

Acrylic, canvas 120×102cm 2021

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Initiation

acrylic, canvas 2020

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Saint George / Püha Jüri

acrylic, canvas 200×160cm 2020

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Exercises for the Past

acrylic, canvas 200×290cm 2020

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Gender-neutral Selfie

acrylic, canvas 110×135cm 2020

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Religious

acrylic, canvas 2020

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Smells Like Old Men's Spirit

acrylic, canvas 140×190cm 2015

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Check Yourself

acrylic, canvas 200×250cm 2016

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Moment of Rest

acrylic on canvas 180×220cm 2014

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Unknown Soldier

acrylic on canvas 190×140cm 2014

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Untitled Action 2015

HD video, edition 5+2ap 2015

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Untitled Action

video, mp4 2013

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Oleg

short feature film, 35mm 2010

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Communion 2007

short feature film, 35mm 2007

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Waterfall 2005

video installation, DVD, 3/5+2ap 2005

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Seagulls 2004

video installation, DVD 2004

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Dancing with Dad 2003

video installation, DVD 2003

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Peeter and Mart 2001 -2002

documentary film, BETA SP 2001 - 2002

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Untitled 2002

video installation, BETA SP 2002

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Untitled 2001

video installation, BETA SP 2001

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Father and Son 1998

video installation, BETA SP 1998

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Truck 1997

video installation, BETA SP 1997

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Dancing Home 1995

video installation, BETA SP 1995

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Gallery Exhibitions

Other Exhibitions

Fairs

Press