01 August 2026, 18:00
Illimar Paul “Under the Same Sky”
Introduction
Illimar Paul “Under the Same Sky”
XXXI PÄRNU ART SUMMER
18 June –1 August 2026
Pärnu City Gallery at Endla Theatre (Keskväljak 1)
Curators: Marian Grau & Jan Leo Grau
At Illimar Paul’s solo exhibition two worlds meet – the black-and-white graphic art of the 1970s–1980s with its political message and the colourful works in the artist’s own technique of the 2020s, which the artist paints onto paper through silkscreen meshes. Paul’s early serigraphs and ink drawings were completed at a time when global tension was tangible – the arms race, uncertainty, the threat of nuclear war. Decades later, different tones appear in his graphic watercolours: softly pastel, calm, and in their own way poetic. But this does not mean that the world has changed in the meantime. Conflicts repeat and develop, political and economic crises continue, and the world is still endangered and fragile. Only the artist’s viewpoint on life and creative work has changed.
Paul observes conflict and harmony as different expressions of human structure, and the artist’s multilayered oeuvre, in its coherence, has an effect that reflects the essential nature of the world and in some sense is even hope-giving or brings colours into gloom.
The exhibition is part of the XXXI Pärnu Art Summer program.
This year, taking place for the 31st time, the Art Summer festival brings together five exhibitions across four exhibition venues, which open up the endless possibilities of expression of graphic art as one of the most versatile art forms. The exhibitions explore the intertwinings of graphic art with painting, place different generations and viewpoints into dialogue, and cast a look at both contemporary and decades-old Estonian graphic art.
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Introduction
Illimar Paul “Under the Same Sky”
XXXI PÄRNU ART SUMMER
18 June –1 August 2026
Pärnu City Gallery at Endla Theatre (Keskväljak 1)
Curators: Marian Grau & Jan Leo Grau
At Illimar Paul’s solo exhibition two worlds meet – the black-and-white graphic art of the 1970s–1980s with its political message and the colourful works in the artist’s own technique of the 2020s, which the artist paints onto paper through silkscreen meshes. Paul’s early serigraphs and ink drawings were completed at a time when global tension was tangible – the arms race, uncertainty, the threat of nuclear war. Decades later, different tones appear in his graphic watercolours: softly pastel, calm, and in their own way poetic. But this does not mean that the world has changed in the meantime. Conflicts repeat and develop, political and economic crises continue, and the world is still endangered and fragile. Only the artist’s viewpoint on life and creative work has changed.
Paul observes conflict and harmony as different expressions of human structure, and the artist’s multilayered oeuvre, in its coherence, has an effect that reflects the essential nature of the world and in some sense is even hope-giving or brings colours into gloom.
The exhibition is part of the XXXI Pärnu Art Summer program.
This year, taking place for the 31st time, the Art Summer festival brings together five exhibitions across four exhibition venues, which open up the endless possibilities of expression of graphic art as one of the most versatile art forms. The exhibitions explore the intertwinings of graphic art with painting, place different generations and viewpoints into dialogue, and cast a look at both contemporary and decades-old Estonian graphic art.
